UPDATE - Death toll rises to 20 in Russian missile strike in eastern Ukraine

UPDATES DEATH TOLL; ADDS NEW STATEMENT FROM LOCAL AUTHORITIES; CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE

ISTANBUL (AA) - The death toll rose to 20 from a Russian missile strike in eastern Ukraine, local authorities in Ukraine said early Sunday.

“20 innocent victims ...,” Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentyn Reznichenko posted a message on Telegram.

Previously, online newspaper Kyiv Independent, citing Reznichenko, reported that missiles that hit an apartment building in Dnipro killed at least 14, including a 15-year-old.

An earlier report by Ukraine’s Emergency Service said 73 people were wounded in the attack, including 14 children, and at least 59 others hospitalized.

Thirty-eight people were rescued during the initial response to the attack, while search and rescue operations continue, it also said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Russia’s “heavy missile attack on Ukrainian cities” in a statement.

“Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Kryvy Rih, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Ladyzhyn, Burshtyn, Lviv region, Khmelnytsky and other cities were targets of terrorists,” said Zelenskyy.

“In the city of Dnipro, a residential building has been destroyed in this Russian strike,” he said. “An ordinary nine-story panel building, of which there are quite a few in various cities of Eastern and Central Europe. All floors of this building – from the second to the ninth – were smashed in the explosion of a Russian missile.”

Zelenskyy also said dozens of “wounded, traumatized people” were rescued and they are being treated.

“Among them are children, the youngest girl is three years old,” he added.

*Burc Eruygur contributed to this story.