Russia kills 15 in Ukraine strikes on Putin's 74th birthday

Russian strikes killed at least 15 people and injured 40 across Ukraine on 7 October, the day Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated his 74th birthday. The overnight attack hit Kyiv and a dozen other Ukrainian regions, with missiles and drones pounding residential buildings, energy sites and garages. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the assault was one of the most vile yet, and that more victims may lie under the rubble of a destroyed apartment block in Pryluky.independent.co.uk+1

The death toll matters because it lands on a date Russia's president marks publicly, and because Ukraine had warned a day earlier that its intelligence showed Russia building up for a massive strike. The attacks targeted the energy system, forcing scheduled power cuts. Zelenskyy said Russian ballistic missiles remain the greatest challenge for Ukraine's defences, and that air defence packages are a vital necessity for protecting lives in Ukrainian skies.politico.eu

Pryluky was the worst-hit area

The deadliest strike hit an ordinary five-story apartment building in Pryluky, in the northern Chernihiv region. Interior minister Ihor Vyhivskyi said nine people died there, including three children, and 34 were wounded. Zelenskyy earlier put the Pryluky toll at five dead and 26 injured, including five children, before the count rose. He called the building's destruction a birthday gift to Putin, and said there may be more victims trapped under the rubble.

Deaths were also reported in Kyiv, Dnipro, Kremenchuk and Zaporizhzhia, according to Zelenskyy. Local authorities confirmed two people killed in Kyiv, where a rocket struck a non-residential building in the Podilskyi district and sparked a fire, and another caused a blaze at a garage complex in the Darnytskyi district. Explosions were heard across central Kyiv at around 3am, and one missile landed in a densely populated residential district without detonating.

Ukraine's air force reported shooting down most of the 130 killer drones and cruise missiles launched, but only five of about 20 ballistic missiles. That gap explains why Zelenskyy singled out ballistic weapons as Ukraine's greatest defensive challenge: drones are largely intercepted, while ballistic missiles arrive too fast for current air defences to stop most of them. Kyiv regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said the region faced a combined attack of drones and ballistic missiles.

Ballistic missiles got through air defences

The Russian defence ministry reported shooting down 311 drones over 16 Russian regions and the Black Sea, over the same 24 hours. Ukraine also struck back: Zelenskyy said Ukrainian warriors hit four targets that help Russia finance and wage the war — two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions — plus a response in the Black Sea, where a Russian oil tanker burned off the Sochi coast.

Ukraine's energy ministry said it had to schedule power cuts in parts of the country to save energy, and residents in at least five regions were still without electricity on the morning of 7 October. Zelenskyy said the energy system was one of the key targets of the attack, a repeat of Russia's earlier strategy of striking heating and power infrastructure to force blackouts during colder months.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Russia was pursuing a deliberate strategy of terror, trying to make daily life impossible for Ukrainians who want to live in peace. Announcing the commission's move to disburse €1.24bn to Ukraine for drones and missiles, she said Europe was stepping up to protect people and infrastructure, and that others must step up their support too.

Energy grid was a key target

EU ambassador to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová wrote on Facebook asking Putin whether people killed in their sleep and injured children were what he wanted for his birthday. Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Russian generals brought Putin his favourite present on his birthday: war crimes, adding that Putin is not winning the war and never will. Zelenskyy called the assault one of the vilest strikes.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine carries out just responses to all Russian strikes against its people, pointing to the oil facility and training ground hits. The strikes and counter-strikes came as Bulgarian prime minister Rumen Radev said it remained unclear whether drones that sank a ship off Byala came from Russia or Ukraine, though Zelenskyy said a joint investigation showed Russia was behind that attack.

What happens next

The next dated event on the diplomatic calendar is the APEC summit in China, scheduled for 18-19 November, where Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia would be interested in a potential trilateral meeting between Putin, US president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping. Ushakov said the idea remained at an early stage, with no practical details worked out.