40 people have died as a result of a weekend Russian missile attack on an apartment building in the southeast Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to authorities. Wes

40 people have died as a result of a weekend Russian missile attack on an apartment building in the southeast Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to authorities. Western commentators have noted signs that the Kremlin is gearing up for a protracted conflict in Ukraine after nearly 11 months of warfare.

The multistory structure housed about 1,700 people, and since Saturday's strike, search and rescue teams have been working tirelessly to find victims and survivors inside the rubble. According to the regional government, 39 persons have so far been saved and 30 more are still missing. At least 75 injuries, according to the authorities.

The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project said the alleged death toll made it the bloodiest single attack on Ukrainian civilians since before the summer. Residents said that there were no military facilities present in the residential building.

Oleksander Anyskevych said he was in his apartment when the missile struck.

“Boom — and that’s it. We saw that we were alive and that’s all,” Anyskevych said Monday as he went to the site to see his wrecked apartment.

He told The Associated Press that he knew people who died under the rubble. One of his son’s classmates lost her parents.

Dnipro residents took flowers, candles, and toys to the ruins.

“All of us could be in that place,” local resident Iryna Skrypnyk said.

Josep Borrell, the head of foreign policy for the European Union, described the strike and others like it as "inhumane violence" since they specifically targeted civilians. He wrote in a tweet on Sunday, "There will be no impunity for these crimes.

When questioned about the attack on Monday, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, stated that the Russian military doesn't target residential structures and that the Dnipro building may have been struck as a result of Ukrainian air defense measures.

The facility was attacked as Ukraine was being bombarded by a larger Russian cruise missile onslaught. The Ukrainian military claimed on Sunday that it lacked the equipment necessary to stop the particular Russian missile that struck the Dnipro apartment complex.

Military analysts have predicted that both sides will likely suffer significant troop fatalities in the fierce fighting that has been raging in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province on Monday. There was no way for developments to be independently verified.

The Donbas, a vast industrial region bordering Russia that Russian President Vladimir Putin identified as a focal point from the beginning of the war, consists of Donetsk and the neighboring province of Luhansk. Since 2014, there has been conflict between Kyiv's army and separatists backed by Moscow.

Belarus, which borders Ukraine and acted as a staging area for Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, saw the start of a joint drill between the Russian and Belarusian air forces on Monday.

According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, the exercises will continue through February 1st. For the exercises, Russia has sent its warplanes to Belarus.

After months of humiliating military setbacks, the Institute for the Study of Conflict, a Washington-based think tank, highlighted indications that the Kremlin was moving to turn its invasion of Ukraine into "a major conventional war."

A Kremlin-friendly regime was intended to be installed in Kyiv as part of what Moscow refers to as "a special military operation," but Russian forces ultimately withdrew from the area around Kyiv, according to the research tank. After that, a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive was launched in recent months, but military progress was hampered by the arrival of winter.

In recent days, NATO members have made an effort to reassure Ukraine of their commitment to the current course of action. Tanks have been promised by the UK, and on Sunday, the U.S. military started training Ukrainian forces in new, expanded fighting techniques in Germany.

 to supply a wide range of weapons to Kyiv and voiced hope that Berlin would soon approve a transfer of battle tanks.

Ukraine strike deaths hit 40; Russia seen preparing long war

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