Russian airstrikes on Ukraine on Wednesday, coinciding with Vladimir Putin's 74th birthday, claimed at least 12 lives and injured over 40 people. Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, described these attacks as a birthday gift for Putin and announced that a residential building in the city of Pryluky, located in the Chernihiv region, was completely destroyed.
Damage and Casualty Status
Zelensky said on Wednesday morning: "This was an ordinary five-story residential building" and added that there may be more people trapped under the rubble. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that it had destroyed more than 130 drones and cruise missiles, but had only targeted 5 of the 20 ballistic missiles launched. Pryluky was the worst-hit area, where 5 people died and 26 were injured, including 5 children. One of the missiles landed in a densely populated residential area in Kyiv but did not explode.
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Impact on Ukraine's Energy Infrastructure
Local officials also reported destruction in Kyiv where two people lost their lives, and damages were reported in other cities such as Dnipro, Kremenchuk, Zaporizhia, and other areas. Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine's energy system was one of the main targets of these attacks. The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine announced that it had to plan power outages in some regions of the country to conserve energy, and on Wednesday morning, residents in at least five regions were still without electricity.
Zelensky further stated: "The Russians wanted to strike painfully and dramatically. This was one of the ugliest attacks. Russian ballistic missiles remain our biggest challenge, and air defense systems are currently a vital necessity for us."
Katerina Maternova, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine, wrote on Facebook: "Mr. Putin, is this what you wanted for your birthday? People were killed in their sleep, children were injured, and homes were destroyed?"
In the past 24 hours, Ukraine also burned a Russian oil tanker in the Black Sea and targeted two oil facilities and a military training ground in the Perm, Samara, and Astrakhan regions. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that 311 drones had been shot down in 16 regions of Russia and the Black Sea.
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