At least 8 killed in Russian missile attacks on Dnipro and Synelnykove

At least eight people were killed and a further 25 injured in Russian missile strikes on the central Ukrainian cities of Dnipro and Synelnykove in the early hours of Friday, Dnipropetrovsk region Governor Serhiy Lysak told televised news on Friday morning.

Two people were killed in the regional capital Dnipro, Lysak said, while six were killed in the nearby city of Synelnykove. At least 25 people were injured across the Dnipropetrovsk region as a result of the attack, he added.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that a five-storey residential building and various civil infrastructure objects had been partially destroyed in Dnipro and over a dozen private houses had been damaged in Synelnykove, where two of those killed were children.

Ukrainian Railways said in a statement that the Russian attack had targeted railway infrastructure in Dnipro and the surrounding region, with railway workers among the injured. Dnipro’s railway station briefly suspended operations as rescue work continued following the attack, the statement added.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that in total Russia had launched 36 missiles and drones at Ukraine in the early hours of Friday morning, of which 15 missiles and 14 drones had been downed by the country’s air defences.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the attack demonstrated Ukraine’s urgent need for increased air defence support from the West, stressing that Ukraine’s partners had the “necessary capabilities” to bolster the country’s air defences and that “air defence systems should not be stored in warehouses but deployed in real cities and communities facing terror”.