According to official figures, more than 70 people were injured in the attack and a dozen are in serious condition. Around 40 are still missing. Rescue workers reported that people were still screaming under the rubble.
More than 230 apartments in the building were damaged, with 72 completely destroyed in Saturday’s attack. Approximately 3,450 tons of debris and 39 damaged vehicles were removed from the scene. The building complex may not have been fully inhabited, as the authorities spoke of 100 to 200 people reported there on Sunday.
“Terrorists being punished for everything”
The presidential administration in Kyiv has released photos of the building in ruins. The head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, was appalled. The Russian troops in the country are “terrorists who will be punished for everything. Everyone – without exception,” threatened Yermak. “We will fight back.” The enemy did not change their tactics and continued their strikes against the civilian infrastructure.
According to Ukrainian and international media reports, numerous energy supply facilities were again attacked at the weekend. Rockets hit a number of such targets in several cities, including the major cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa, the BBC reported on Sunday.
Attack on skyscraper
Numerous fatalities have been recovered after the Russian rocket attack on a multi-storey residential building in the city of Dnipro. Ukraine was shocked and called the shelling of the civilian building “terror”.
Great Britain advances with tank deliveries
Like the head of his presidency, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of Russian “terror” that could only be stopped with Western weapons, which his country was waiting for. In his daily video message on Saturday evening, Zelenskyy thanked Great Britain for the pledge to deliver a total of 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
Britain is the first country to provide modern western heavy battle tanks to Kyiv. This is a signal to other partners in his country to do the same, said Selenskyj. So far Ukraine has received western-style infantry fighting, anti-aircraft and wheeled tanks, but only ex-Soviet or Russian models of main battle tanks, mostly by means of a ring exchange from Eastern European NATO countries, which received western models in return.
Dispute Leopard 2
Above all, the Ukraine has been pushing Germany for weeks to deliver the modern Leopard 2, the A4 version of which is also used in the Austrian Armed Forces and is technically superior to Russian tanks. Poland and Finland want to make some Leopard models made in Germany available. The federal government in Berlin has so far rejected this, within the “traffic light coalition” of the government made up of SPD, FDP and Greens, the topic is controversial.
Berlin does not want to be pushed
In any case, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) does not want to be pushed, as he recently confirmed again – probably due to the fear that German tank deliveries could draw NATO deeper into the conflict in Ukraine or cause it to escalate further. Moscow issued corresponding threats to London over the delivery of the Challenger 2. Germany has so far supplied Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles, 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles are to follow, as well as artillery, anti-aircraft and radar systems.
Scholz had criticized “excited statements” in the debate on Friday and called for more prudence. The “necessity to have to say something every ten minutes” should not lead to decisions “related to war and peace” being “simply shaken out of the hand,” said Scholz in Berlin. In questions of further support for Kyiv, Germany will “always act in close coordination with our friends and allies,” he emphasized. The majority of Germans are critical of the tank delivery.
Stoltenberg for delivery of heavy weapons
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke out in favor of the delivery of more heavy weapons to Ukraine. “The recent commitments for heavy war equipment are important – and I expect more in the near future,” Stoltenberg told the “Handelsblatt”.
Repair more than “repainted”
According to the German armaments group Rheinmetall, it will not be able to repair Leopard 2 models for Ukraine until 2024 at the earliest. “Even if the decision is made tomorrow that we can send our Leopard tanks to Kyiv, delivery will take until the beginning of next year,” said CEO Armin Papperger of the German “Bild am Sonntag”.
The group owns 22 decommissioned Leopard 2 and 88 pieces of the previous model Leopard 1. The repair takes almost a year, said Papperger. “The vehicles are not only repainted, they have to be converted for use in the war. They are completely dismantled and then rebuilt.” Without an order, the group cannot make the tanks operational, as it costs several hundred million euros. “Rheinmetall cannot pre-finance that,” said the CEO of the armaments group.
