A Russian missile slammed into a five‑storey apartment block in Pryluky, north of Kyiv, on the morning of October 7, killing 19 people, including five children. The blast destroyed 30 flats and left families scattered amid the wreckage.
Three of the children were one‑year‑olds named Oleksandr, Kyrylo and Serhii, while an eight‑year‑old boy, Maxsym, was also killed. Another boy, Sasha, perished with his mother, Kateryna, and grandmother, Viktoriia; only Sasha’s sister Olha survived the ordeal.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as one of Russia’s “most vile strikes” and accused the Russian military of launching the missile as a “birthday gift” to Vladimir Putin, who turned 74 that day. Moscow, for its part, denied involvement and said the missile hit a military industry target in the Kyiv region.
Rescue teams worked for hours amid the rubble, eventually finding the body of a fifth child. The attack also damaged a youth centre and other residential buildings, leaving more than 50 residents wounded.
The day’s total death toll across Ukraine rose to 25, with casualties also reported in Kyiv, Kremenchuk, and Oleksandriya. Ukraine's air force claimed it shot down 5 ballistic and 39 cruise missiles, while 100 drones were reportedly destroyed – yet 26 cruise or ballistic missiles managed to penetrate defence systems.
Zelensky echoed calls for increased air‑defence support from allies and warned of heightened strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which Moscow vowed to intensify in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy sites in the past 24 hours.
