The death toll from a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 40 on Monday with dozens more missing, making it the deadliest civilian incident of Moscow’s three-month campaign of hurling missiles at cities far from the front.

At least 40 people were killed in the attack in the central city, with 30 still unaccounted for, city official Gennadiy Korban said. He said 75 people were wounded including 14 children.

Ukrainian officials acknowledged little hope of finding anyone else alive in the rubble of Saturday’s attack, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said rescue efforts in the central Ukrainian city would go on “as long as there is even the slightest chance to save lives”.

The Kremlin said Russian forces do not strike residential buildings in Ukraine, and suggested Ukraine’s air defences had knocked the Russian missile off course, which Kyiv denies.

The German government said Chancellor Scholz accepted the resignation of Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht and would soon appoint a replacement, the culmination of growing scepticism about her ability to bring the German army into shape against the backdrop of the Ukraine war.

Her decision to step down comes as Germany is under pressure to approve an increase in international military support for Kyiv, and Germany’s defence capabilities have been called into question after several Puma infantry tanks were put out of service during a recent military drill.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is expected in Berlin on Thursday and will attend a conference on Friday at the U.S. military base in Ramstein to discuss further support for Ukraine.

At the weekend, Britain broke the West’s taboo on sharing tanks with Ukraine, pledging 14 of its main battle tanks.

The Kremlin responded that Britain’s tanks “will burn.” and such support would not change the outcome of the war.

* Belarus began air force drills with Russia that it said were defensive in nature, but the move comes as concerns grow that Moscow is pushing Minsk to join the war in Ukraine. Russian President Putin visited Belarusian leader Lukashenko in December in a rare trip to Minsk, prompting speculation it preceded an attack on Ukraine.

* The Kremlin has denied that it has been pressuring its neighbour to take a more active role in the conflict in Ukraine. Minsk has said it will not enter the war.

* Pavel Muraveyko, first deputy state secretary of Belarusian Security Council, said the situation on the country’s southern border with Ukraine was “not very calm” and that Ukraine has been “provoking” Belarus.

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