Russia unleashed a new wave of major attacks on Ukraine on Saturday, hitting energy infrastructure across the country and killing at least 12 people in a missile strike on a nine-story apartment building in the city of Dnipro, officials said, according to the Reuters news agency.
Rescue teams toiled through the night in freezing temperatures in the aftermath of the Dnipro attack, in east-central Ukraine, with local officials saying people were still alive underneath the massive pile of wreckage.
Russian strikes also hit critical infrastructure in the capital Kyiv and other places, with Ukraine's energy minister saying the coming days would be "difficult" with threats to the supply of electricity, running water and central heating at the height of winter.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the number of those killed in the Dnipro apartment attack was likely to rise and again appealed his Western allies for more weaponry to end "Russian terror" and attacks on civilian targets.
"What's needed for this? The kind of weapons that our partners have in stockpiles and that our warriors have come to expect. The whole world knows what and how to stop those who are sowing death," he said in his nightly video address, as quoted by Reuters.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Zelenskyy's office, said 37 people had been rescued from the building and a total of 64 were injured.
Another person was killed and one wounded in the steel-making city of Kryviy Rih where six houses were damaged in Zelenskyy's hometown, mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine last February, has been pounding its energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, causing sweeping blackouts and disruptions to central heating and running water. Ukraine shot down on Saturday 25 of 38 Russian missiles of different types, the Air Force said.