The Russian missile strike on Saturday in Dnipro has killed 25 people at the latest count. Moscow’s missile attack on a nine-story apartment block injured at least 73 people, including many children, and dozens are believed to be buried under debris after much of the building was razed as part of Russia’s 10th mass missile strike since early October.

The hit on Dnipro was part of two waves of strikes on Saturday, mostly targeted at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Missile and air strikes were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro and Vinnytsia, among other locations. Kremlin forces launched S-300 and S-400 systems on a ballistic trajectory from Belarus, before later launching cruise missiles from air and sea. 

Key developments

• Ukraine apartment tower strike by Russia kills at least nine 
• Iran expects to get Russian fighter jets by March, news agency says
• Russia tycoons fear tightening Kremlin squeeze as war drags on
• UK will send major battle tanks, more artillery to Ukraine
• How Europe is muddling through Putin’s energy war: QuickTake

On the ground

Over the past 24 hours, Russia launched air strikes, 57 missile strikes and 69 strikes from rocket salvo systems, Ukraine’s General Staff said. Russia used С-300/С-400 long-range anti-aircraft missiles to carry out missile strikes on Kyiv and other settlements of Ukraine, it said in a daily report, warning that there was still a threat of air and missile strikes throughout Ukraine. At least two were injured after a Russian strike on residences in Kherson on Sunday afternoon, the region’s governor said.

25 now reported dead after Russian strike on Dnipro

The death toll from Russia’s missile attack Saturday on an apartment building in Dnipro has risen to 25, according to emergency services. Another 72 or more were injured and rescue efforts continue, 24 hours after much of the nine-story building was razed. 

Images released by Ukraine show part of a building totally demolished with adjacent areas heavily damaged. Rescuers fought “fighting for every person, every life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. At least 12 children were among the wounded and more than 1,000 people were left homeless.

Zelensky said “Russian terror” can only be stopped on the battlefield in Ukraine. What’s needed are “weapons that are in the warehouses of our partners and that our troops are so waiting for,” he said in a statement after the attack.

Dnipropetrovsk region Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said on Telegram that 72 units in the block had been destroyed and 230 others damaged. Ukraine’s air command said the building was hit by a Russian Kh-22, or X-22, long-range missile launched from the Kursk region and designed for use against aircraft carriers. 

Kremlin troops have fired more than 210 of the Kh-22 rockets since the start of the invasion, and Ukraine has no firepower capable of shooting down that type of missile, the air command said. 

Ukraine sanctions another 200 celebrities

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on Sunday imposing sanctions against almost 200 people of mostly Russian and Belarusian citizenship. It was the second round of sanctions announced this month. 

The list includes actors, television journalists and businessmen. The sanctions stipulate the blocking of assets, preventing the withdrawal of capital outside Ukraine, the suspension of economic and financial obligations and revocation of licences and other permits. 

Among those sanctioned was Angelina Vovk, 50, a former presenter on Soviet Central Television, and Boris Korchevnikov, 40, an actor and TV host.  

Putin says economic situation ‘satisfactory, even good’

Russia’s president said the country’s economy is “quite satisfactory, even good,” and is performing better not only than opponents had expected, “but even we predicted.” Putin spoke on Sunday on the TV channel Russia-1. 

He expected Russia’s inflation to slow to about 5% in the first quarter, from 11.9%, and pointed to growth in industrial production, agriculture and construction. 

Putin also said what he termed the “special military operation” in Ukraine was going according to the defence ministry’s plan, and that the “dynamics are positive” for Russia. 

Iran expects to get Russian fighter jets by March

Iran will receive several Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets by March as part of a military order that includes defence systems, missiles and helicopters. 

Shahriar Heydari, a member of the Islamic Republic’s parliamentary commission for national security and foreign policy, didn’t specify the number of aircraft ordered. 

Rheinmetall CEO says Leopard repairs take a year

The maker of Leopard tanks says it would take about a year to get the vehicles it has in inventory ready for the battlefield, meaning deliveries to Ukraine couldn’t start before 2024, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger told Bild newspaper. 

The German defence company has 22 Leopard 2 tanks and 88 Leopard 1 vehicles, “but we can’t repair these tanks without an order, because the costs are several hundred million euros and Rheinmetall can’t finance that in advance,” he said.

The comments are likely to put more pressure on the German government to approve deliveries of vehicles in active service. Countries including Poland and Finland have said they’re ready to send their Leopards to Kyiv.

International condemnation after Russian strike on civilians

Russia’s Saturday strike on civilians in an apartment block has drawn international condemnation.

Gitanas Nauseda, Lithuania’s president, called Russia “a terrorist state” that brings “destruction, death & immense suffering everywhere they go.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the attack was “despicable, abhorrent, and completely unacceptable.”

Bridget Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, said Russia was continuing a “desperate assault on Ukraine’s cities and people.” 

Sunak says strategy needed to break ‘stalemate’

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for an international strategy to break the “stalemate” in Ukraine after almost a year of war. 

“A flurry of UK diplomatic activity will take place across the globe this week after the prime minister directed senior ministers to drive international action,” according to a statement from Sunak’s office.

The UK has assessed that a “window has opened up where Russia is on the back foot due to resupply issues and plummeting morale” and Sunak is encouraging allies to press their advantage as soon as possible.  

Emergency power outages in Kyiv after Saturday’s strikes

Ukraine’s capital, along with much of the country, continued to experience power outages after strikes on critical infrastructure by Russian missiles on Saturday. 

DTEK power engineers, with specialists from Ukrenergo, other emergency services and state authorities, are attempting to stabilise the situation. 

Much of Ukraine under air raid alert

Ukraine was hit by a second wave of Russian air strikes on Saturday afternoon, with air defence active in the Mykolayiv and Odesa regions. Air-raid sirens sounded across much of the country. 

Vitaliy Kim, governor of the Mykolayiv region in Ukraine’s south, warned earlier that 17 Russian fighter jets had launched from bases in Russia and warned of potential attacks. Artillery shelling was also reported in and around Nikopol, southwest of Zaporizhzhia, and explosions were reported in Vinnytsia Oblast in Ukraine’s southwest.

Saturday marks Russia’s first major wave of air strikes since a brief, self-imposed “ceasefire” over Orthodox Christmas a week ago, and the first since a new commander was named to Russian the Kremlin’s war effort. 

Sunak, Zelensky speak as UK offers Challenger tanks

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke by phone on Saturday to Zelensky, outlining the UK’s plan to provide Challenger 2 battle tanks and additional artillery systems to Ukraine, according to a UK readout. 

The pair “welcomed other international commitments in this vein, including Poland’s offer to provide a company of Leopard tanks,” according to the readout.  

The UK would become the first Western nation to send main battle tanks to Ukraine. Four British Army Challenger 2 tanks would be sent to eastern Europe immediately, with eight more to follow, The Sun reported Friday. DM