Flurry of Russian missiles, drones strike Ukrainian residential buildings

Flurry of Russian missiles, drones strike Ukrainian residential buildings

Russia blasted an apartment block in Ukraine with missiles on Wednesday and swarmed cities with drone attacks overnight, in a display of force as Russian President Vladimir Putin bid farewell to his visiting "dear friend" and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Firefighters battled a blaze in two adjacent residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, where officials said at least one person was killed and 33 wounded by a twin missile strike.

"Right now, residential areas where ordinary people and children live are being fired at," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted, with security camera video showing one building exploding.

"This must not become 'just another day' in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world. The world needs greater unity and determination to defeat Russian terror faster and protect lives."

Smoke rises from an apartment building after it was shelled.
Smoke is seen rising from an apartment building in Chasiv Yar, west of Bakhmut, Ukraine, after Russian shelling on Wednesday. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

A playground and a car park at the scene were littered with glass, debris and wrecked cars. Emergency workers carried out the wounded or escorted those who could walk.

An elderly woman with scratches on her face sat alone on a bench, wiping tears and whispering prayers.

"When I got out, there was destruction, smoke, people screaming, debris. Then the firefighters and rescuers came," said Ivan Nalyvaiko, 24.

6 dead after dormitories hit

In Rzhyshchiv, a riverside town south of the capital, at least six people were killed, 18 injured and three missing after a drone struck two college dormitories. Reuters saw a five-storey building with a collapsed section of the top floor.

A police officer stands near a missile-damaged building.
A police officer stands guard at the scene of a drone attack in the town of Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on Wednesday. (Efrem Lukatsky/The Associated Press)

During the night, sirens blared across the capital and swathes of northern Ukraine, and the military said it had shot down 16 of 21 Iranian-made Shahed suicide drones.

In an apparent reference to the Chinese president's visit to the Russian capital, Zelenskyy tweeted: "Every time someone tries to hear the word 'peace' in Moscow, another order is given there for such criminal strikes."

Zelenskyy visited troops near the front line on Wednesday. His office released video of him handing out medals to soldiers, which it said was filmed near Bakhmut, the eastern city where Ukrainian forces are mounting a defence in what has become Europe's deadliest infantry battle since the Second World War.

International bodies estimate rebuilding Ukraine will cost $411 billion US — 2.6 times Ukraine's 2022 gross domestic product.

Little said about Ukraine

Hosting Xi in Moscow this week was Putin's grandest diplomatic gesture since he launched the war a year ago.

The two men referred to each other as "dear friend," promised economic co-operation, condemned the West and described relations as the best they have ever been.

The leaders of China and Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are seen at a dinner in Moscow on Tuesday. (Pavel Byrkin/Sputnik/Kremlin/The Associated Press)

They "shared the view that this relationship has gone far beyond the bilateral scope and acquired critical importance for the global landscape and the future of humanity," said a statement released by China.

But the public remarks were notably short of specifics, and during the visit Xi had almost nothing to say about the Ukraine war, beyond that China's position was "impartial."

The White House urged Beijing to pressure Russia to withdraw from Ukraine. Washington also criticized the timing of the trip, just days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges, which Beijing has joined Moscow in rejecting.

China has promoted itself as a neutral peacemaker, proposing a plan for Ukraine last month which the West largely dismissed as vague at best, and at worst a ploy to buy time for Putin to regroup his forces.

Ukraine says there can be no peace unless Russia withdraws from occupied land. Moscow says Kyiv must recognize territorial "realities" after its claim to have annexed nearly a fifth of Ukraine.

Grinding battle in Bakhmut

After Ukraine recaptured territory throughout the second half of 2022, Moscow launched a massive winter offensive using hundreds of thousands of freshly called-up reservists and convicts recruited as mercenaries from jail.

Ukrainian soldiers driving on a road.
Ukrainian soldiers head toward Bakhmut on Wednesday. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

Despite the bloodiest fighting of the war, which both sides describe as a meat grinder, the front line has barely moved for four months.

Russia's only notable gains have been around Bakhmut, but Kyiv has decided in recent weeks not to withdraw there, saying its defenders were inflicting enough losses on the Russian attackers to justify holding out.

In an intelligence update, Britain's ministry of defence said that while there was still a risk the Ukrainian garrison in Bakhmut could be surrounded, Russia's assault on the city could be running out of steam.

A Ukrainian counterattack in recent days west of Bakhmut was likely to relieve pressure on Ukraine's supply route, the Wednesday update said.

Britain rejected accusations from Moscow that providing Ukraine with ammunition made from depleted uranium created a risk of "nuclear collision."

"There is no threat to Russia, this is purely about helping Ukraine defend itself," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.

Britain on Monday confirmed it was supplying Ukraine with such shells, used by many militaries to penetrate armour due to the metal's high density.

Depleted uranium is a by-product of enriched uranium used in nuclear reactors and weapons. It is less radioactive than naturally occurring uranium, but campaigners want to limit its military use due to concerns about lasting health risks around impact sites, where dust can get into people's lungs and vital organs.

A woman stands near a shell crater in Donetsk, Ukraine.
A woman is seen on Wednesday standing next to a shell crater in a Russian-controlled part of Donetsk, Ukraine. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)