Ukraine says Russia bombed apartment block as birthday gift for Putin

Building in Pryluky destroyed, killing nine people including three children, officials say, night before Russian president’s 74th birthday

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia’s military of deliberately killing civilians and bombing residential buildings as a macabre gift for Vladimir Putin, who celebrates his 74th birthday on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s president described Russia’s overnight drone and missiles strikes, which killed at least 15 people, as “despicable”. “The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively,” he said.