Russian missile and drone attacks across Ukraine kill 14 civilians
Russia has launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least 14 civilians and wounding more than 100 others.
Some people were trapped under the rubble of apartment buildings, including a three-year-old child whose body was pulled out by emergency crews in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, as the attack stretched from night into day and the boom of explosions reverberated across cities.
Kyiv residents had been on edge for days after Russia warned that a massive aerial attack was coming and warned foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital. None appeared to heed the call.
“A large-scale attack and an explicit statement by Russia: if Ukraine is not protected from ballistic missiles and other missile strikes, those strikes will continue,” Mr Zelenskyy said in response to the attack, urging more support from the US and European countries.
President Vladimir Putin has stepped up Moscow’s aerial campaign against Ukraine, with Russian forces recently launching a powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for only the third time in the four-year war.
The Russian strategy seeks to take advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of US-made Patriot air defence missiles, with international stocks depleted by the Iran war. That has left civilians especially vulnerable to the Russian ballistic missile barrages, even as air defences stop most of the attack drones.
At least 64 people were wounded in the capital, emergency services said. Kyiv resident Iryna Salikova, 37, spent the night lying in a bath tub for protection with her three-year-old daughter, as blasts reverberated across the city.
“Our window was broken, a cobblestone flew into the children’s room,” Ms Salikova said. “Thank God we’re alive. Today we’re alive, today we’re lucky.”
Russia unleashed 73 missiles and 656 drones across Ukraine, according to the country’s air force, with the main targets including Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro, and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defence forces destroyed and suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.
Mr Putin is keen to generate some positive news from the conflict that began with Russia’s invasion of its neighbour and has not gone according to plan.
Western officials and analysts say Ukrainian drones are pinning down Russian troops on the front line, choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine, and disrupting oil facilities deep inside Russia that provide vital revenue for Moscow.
That has made the war, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation”, more visible to Russians and increased pressure on Mr Putin.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that the military issued a “massive” strike with long-range precision weapons on military-industrial facilities in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnytsk and Sumy regions.
In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, at least eight people were killed and 35 others injured.
Hits of 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones were recorded in at least 38 locations across Ukraine, according to regional authorities. Debris from destroyed drones fell on 15 locations, the air force said.
At least four people were killed in Kyiv and 63 people were injured, including three children, Ukraine’s state emergency service said in a statement on Telegram. Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged in eight Kyiv districts.
In the Podilskyi district, there was partial damage to the upper floors of a nine-storey building, trapping people under the rubble. Rescue operations were still under way in the early hours of the morning, even as the air raid alert remained in effect.
In the Solomianskyi district, a 20-storey building and a 24-storey building were damaged.
Olena Dniprovska, 65, and her husband Yevhen, 64, were injured in their apartment in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district during the attack.
“I went out into the corridor with the phone, and before I understood what happened, everything fell on my head, the glass, and the door blew off,” said Ms Dniprovska, dried blood streaked across her face and a bandage wrapped around her chin. “I ran out into the front door and started calling my husband from the room, but he was also blown out by the blast wave.”
“Now I have nowhere to live, the apartment is completely destroyed, no doors, no windows, no balcony. You can step straight from the room out onto the street,” she said.
In Kharkiv, at least 14 people were injured and residential homes, garages and cars were damaged. A two-storey residential building and part of a four-story apartment block were also damaged, with people trapped beneath the rubble of the larger building.
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