Death toll of Dnipro strike increases to 40, including 3 children

The death toll of Russia’s strike upon the apartment block in Ukraine’s Dnipro has increased to 35, including two children, says Valentyn Reznichenko, the local governor.

“The enemy attack has claimed the lives of 35 people so far, including two children. A total of 39 people were saved, 75 were injured, including 14 kids. The fate of 35 more people is still unclear, the rescue operation continues,” he wrote.

The rescue operation has been going on for almost 40 hours straight, Reznichenko says. Several more dead bodies were retrieved from the rubble last night.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Russians in the Russian language last night.

“I wish to say something to all the people in and from Russia who didn’t care to say a mere couple of words to condemn this terror despite seeing and knowing everything. Your cowardly silentness, your attempts to wait out what’s going on, will only result in these terrorists eventually coming for you. Evil is very sensitive to cowardice, and it always remembers those who fear it and try to haggle with it. When it comes for you, you will have no one to protect you,” Zelensky said, adding that he believes “expanding sanctions for Russians who keep helping terrorism” to be the right thing to do.

It was revealed last night that Mykhailo Korenovsky, a boxing coach, was killed in the attack; this was confirmed by Ukraine’s Boxing Federation. Korenovsky had two children. A photo of a destroyed kitchen with walls painted in yellow is being shared on social media, along with a video shot in the same kitchen shortly before the attack, showing Korenovsky congratulating one of his daughters on her birthday.

“This hole was once my apartment where I lived with my family for 9 years. Me and my kids were out at the moment of the explosion, and my husband was at home having his lunch. He was going to join us moments before,” Mykhailo’s wife Olha wrote on Instagram.

Russia executed a new massive shelling of Ukraine on Saturday. Explosions were reported in the Kyiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Khmelnytskyi regions of the country.

Ukraine’s army officials say the projectile that hit the apartment block was a Russian Kh-22 anti-ship missile.