KYIV – A Russian missile slammed into two apartment buildings in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on March 12, killing three people and injuring at least 38, with rescue teams sifting through rubble late into the night in a search for survivors.

Ten children were among the injured.

Mr Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, put the provisional injury toll at 28 adults and 10 children and later said rescue operations had been completed.

“Two buildings were hit, one five storeys, one nine storeys,” Mr Lysak wrote on Telegram.

“The number of injured is constantly rising as is the number of children injured.”

Mr Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih’s military administration, said at least three hits from the missiles were recorded in the city.

He said at least five of the adults and one child being treated in hospital were in critical condition.

Nine people had been rescued in searches conducted from apartment to apartment and all fires at the scene had been brought under control.

Video footage showed a blaze engulfing the top of one apartment block and rescue teams ferrying the injured out of shattered building entrances.

With balconies all but destroyed and windows blown out, cranes were used to reach the upper floors of buildings, alongside floodlights.

“The emergency services and residents who care are rescuing residents blocked in their apartments and are continuing to search for anyone who might be under the rubble,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote.

Kryvyi Rih has been a frequent target of Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was born and raised in the city, praised rescue teams on Telegram and vowed Russia would be brought to account.

“Every day, our cities and villages suffer similar strikes. Every day, Ukraine loses people to Russian evil,” he wrote.

“There can be no pause, not for a day, a week, let alone a month, in support for simply defending lives, for saving people from terror.” REUTERS