Russian strikes wound at least 20 in Ukraine's capital as child is killed in separate attack

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv, damaged residential buildings and caused blackouts across swaths of Ukraine early Friday, authorities said. A child also was killed in separate attacks in the southeast of the country.

In the heart of the Ukrainian capital, rescue crews pulled more than 20 people out of a 17-story apartment building as flames engulfed the sixth and seventh floors. Five people were hospitalized, while others received first aid at the scene, authorities said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of lashing out against Ukrainian cities in response to frontline failures in the east. “They can show nothing on the battlefield. All they can do is attack our power sector ... and attack our cities,” Zelenskyy told reporters late Friday.

Residents in a central Kyiv district that suffered one of the attacks described scene of chaos during the overnight strike.

“Everyone was sleeping and suddenly there was such a sharp sound; it was clear that something was flying. I managed to pull the blanket over my head, and then the strike hit — it blew out the windows, and the glass flew almost all the way to the door," 61-year-old resident Tetiana Lemishevska told The Associated Press.

"The fire was on the sixth or seventh floor at first, and the flames went up quickly and spread to other floors. So all the people who could left the building without knowing how it would end,” she said.

Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko also described the attack as “one of the largest concentrated strikes" against Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo, reported power outages in Kyiv and the wider region, as well as in the Sumy, Kharkiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Cherkasy regions.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that Friday’s attack knocked out power on both sides of the city, divided by the Dnipro River, while Ukraine’s biggest electricity operator, DTEK, said that repair work was already underway on multiple damaged thermal plants.

Russia's Defense Ministry on Friday said the strikes had targeted energy facilities supplying Ukraine's military. It did not give details of those facilities, but said Russian forces used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and strike drones against them.

The energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its all-out invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Each year, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid before the bitter winter season, apparently hoping to erode public morale. Ukraine’s winter temperatures run from late October through March, with January and February the coldest months.

Ukraine’s air force said Friday that the latest Russian barrage included 465 strike and decoy drones, as well as 32 missiles of various types. Air defenses intercepted or jammed 405 drones and 15 missiles, it said.

In the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, residential areas and energy sites were pounded with attack drones, missiles and guided bombs, killing a 7-year-old boy and wounding his parents and others, military administration officials said. A hydroelectric plant in the area was taken offline as a precaution, they said.

The intensified attacks in recent weeks, prompted Zelenskyy Friday to appeal for more international support to boost his country's air defenses.

A senior Ukrainian delegation is due to visit the United States next week. Zelenskyy said he was counting on U.S. President Donald Trump to apply pressure on Moscow, adding that he was in discussions with U.S. officials about the possible provision of various long-range precision strike weapons, including Tomahawk cruise missiles and more ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles.

Ukraine, he said, would need substantial amount. “When you have 40, 50 or 60 ACATMS, between us, it’s nothing,” he said. “If you want to have something and see real effect, then you have to provide, to deliver, the number which can give you this effect.”

Zelenskyy said was encouraged by the U.S.-brokered ceasefire aimed at ending the war in Gaza and urged Trump to exert similar pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine.

“I hope he will use all the instruments: Tomahawks, sanctions, the diplomatic way, the financial way, tariffs, everything to stop Putin,” he said.

Associated Press journalist Vasilisa Stepanenko contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks during his press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks during his press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A rescuer helps an injured man after a Russian strike on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

Rescuers carry an injured woman into an ambulance after a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

Paramedics evacuate an injured woman after a Russian strike on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Brovary, near Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work the scene following a Russian attack in Brovary, near Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Rescuers carry an injured woman into an ambulance after a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A residential building is damaged by a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

COTONOU, Benin (AP) — A group of soldiers has appeared on Benin ’s state TV announcing the dissolution of the government in an apparent coup, the latest of many in West Africa.

The group, which called itself the Military Committee for Refoundation, on Sunday announced the removal of the president and all state institutions.

Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri has been appointed president of the military committee, the soldiers said.

Following its independence from France in 1960, the West African nation witnessed multiple coups, especially in the decades following its independence. Since 1991, the country has been politically stable following the two-decade rule of Mathieu Kérékou, a Marxist-Leninist who renamed the country the People’s Republic of Benin.

President Patrice Talon had been in power since 2016 and was due to step down next April after the presidential election.

Talon’s party pick, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, was the favorite to win the election. Opposition candidate Renaud Agbodjo was rejected by the electoral commission on the grounds that he did not have sufficient sponsors.

Last month, the country’s legislature extended the presidential term of office from five to seven years, keeping the term limit at two.

The coup is the latest in a string of military takeovers that have rocked West Africa. Last week, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo after a contested election in which both he and the opposition candidate declared themselves winners.

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria

FILE - Benin's President Patrice Talon attends a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)