Russia Fires 70 Missiles on Putin’s Birthday; 14 Killed in Pryluky
Ukrainian officials say at least 20 civilians died nationwide, 14 of them in a Pryluky apartment block, as Russia fired 70 missiles and 130 drones.
KYIV — Russia fired dozens of missiles and more than 100 attack drones at Ukraine overnight into October 7, Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday, killing at least 20 civilians nationwide, according to figures released by Ukrainian authorities. The deadliest single strike flattened a five-story apartment building in Pryluky, in the northern Chernihiv region.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the death toll in Pryluky had risen to 14, including four children, with 50 people injured, seven of them children. Rescuers pulled 15 people alive from the rubble, including one child, Kyiv Post reported, citing the service. Earlier counts from the same building stood at five dead and 26 injured, and rose through the day as crews searched the wreckage.
“Today, on Putin’s birthday, the Russian army ‘gifted’ him the destruction of a residential building in Pryluky,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “This was an ordinary five-story apartment building.”
What Ukraine’s Air Force counted
Ukraine’s Air Force said that from 6 p.m. on October 6 Russia launched 48 Kh-101, Iskander-K and Kalibr cruise missiles, an unspecified number of Iskander-M, KN-23 and S-400 ballistic missiles, Zircon or Oniks anti-ship missiles, and 130 Shahed-type, Gerbera and Parodiya decoy drones, 46 of them jet-powered. As of 9 a.m., it said air defenses had downed 161 targets: 39 cruise missiles, five ballistic or anti-ship missiles and 117 drones. It recorded hits at 18 locations and falling debris at five more, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Zelensky put the total at 70 missiles, “including a significant number of ballistic weapons,” and called it one of Russia’s largest attacks of the full-scale war. He said only part of the barrage was intercepted and did not give a full breakdown.
Damage beyond Pryluky
Zelensky said five apartment buildings were damaged in Dnipro and four high-rises were struck in Kremenchuk, with two people killed and eight injured in those two cities. Two more people were killed in Oleksandriia in the Kirovohrad region, he said.
In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people died in a fire caused by the attack in the Darnytskyi district, according to Al Jazeera. Damage was also reported in the Obolonskyi, Podilskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts, including warehouses and other non-residential sites. A drone damaged an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia, where officials also reported damage to transport infrastructure.
Zelensky said “one of the key targets” was Ukraine’s energy system, as Russia steps up strikes on power infrastructure ahead of winter.
Moscow’s account
Russia’s Ministry of Defence described the operation as a “massive strike” on military-industrial facilities using land-, sea- and air-launched precision weapons and drones. It said targets included sites in Kyiv where the company Fire Point produces and stores Flamingo cruise missiles and long-range drones, as well as facilities in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Kharkiv regions, and port and ship-repair infrastructure in the Odesa region. The ministry did not address the civilian deaths reported by Ukrainian officials. Those claims could not be independently verified.
Zelensky separately said Ukrainian forces had struck four targets inside Russia over the previous 24 hours, including two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions, as well as “a response in the Black Sea.” He did not provide details.
Renewed appeal for Patriot interceptors
Zelensky described ballistic missiles as the hardest threat for Ukraine’s air defenses and renewed his appeal to allies. “Air defense packages are now a vital necessity for us,” he said. “That is why we search every day for missiles for the Patriots.”
Analysis: The October 7 barrage came hours after Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence had warned of preparations for a massive strike, and follows weeks of Russian attacks on Kyiv’s bridges and power grid. The Air Force reported downing 39 of 48 cruise missiles but only five ballistic or anti-ship missiles, without saying how many of those were launched. That gap is the problem Kyiv has repeatedly raised with allies: it says it lacks enough Patriot launchers and interceptors to stop ballistic weapons over its cities.
Sources
- Kyiv Post: Putin’s Birthday Barrage Kills at Least 20 Across Ukraine
- Ukrainska Pravda: Air Force says 161 aerial assets downed on 7 October
- Al Jazeera: At least 20 killed as Russia launches ‘massive’ attack
