ANDRIY ANDRIYENKO/ ASSOCIATED PRESS
People clear debris at the site of the Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, today.
KYIV, Ukraine >> Russia has smuggled 122 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukrainian targets, it said today, killing at least 30 civilians across the country in what an Air Force official called the largest aerial bombardment of the war.
At least 144 other people were wounded and an unknown number were buried under the rubble in the attack, which lasted about 18 hours, Ukrainian officials said. A maternity hospital, apartment buildings and schools were among the buildings destroyed across Ukraine.
In the capital, Kyiv, broken glass and mangled metal littered city streets. Air raid and emergency service sirens wailed as plumes of smoke drifted into a bright blue sky.
Kateryna Ivanivna, a 72-year-old Kyiv resident, said she threw herself to the ground when she was hit by a missile.
“There was an explosion and then there were flames,” he said. “I covered my head and went out into the street. Then I ran towards the subway station.
Meanwhile, in Poland, the government said what appeared to be a Russian missile entered the country’s airspace this morning from Ukraine and later denied the radar print.
In the attack on Ukraine, the air force intercepted most of the ballistic and cruise missiles and the Shahed-type drones overnight, said Ukraine’s military chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
Western and analysts recently warned that Russia had limited its cruise missile movements for months in an obvious attempt to build up reserves for large movements over the winter, hoping to break Ukrainian morale.
The result is “the largest large-scale airstrike” since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his official Telegram channel. This is the largest attack last, in November 2022, when Russia introduced 96 missiles, and the largest this year, with 81 missiles on March 9, according to Air Force records.
Fighting along the front line is largely bogged down by winter weather after Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive failed to make a significant breakthrough along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) line of contact.
Ukrainian officials have suggested to the country’s Western allies that they provide it with more air defense. Their calls are symptoms of war fatigue, which is testing efforts to stay in place.
President Joe Biden said the bombardment showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “must be stopped.”
“Other Americans can be proud of the lives we’ve helped save and the lives we’ve given to Ukraine as it defends its other peoples, its freedom and its independence,” he said.
“But unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defense systems Ukraine needs to protect its people. Congress must step up and act without any further delay,” he said in a statement.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the attack should stir the world to further action in support of Ukraine.
“These widespread attacks on Ukrainian cities show that Putin will in no way impede him from achieving his purpose of eliminating freedom and democracy,” Sunak said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “We will have to continue in Ukraine, for as long as possible. “whatever it takes. “
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the scale of the attack raises awareness of Ukraine’s procedural needs.
“Today, millions of Ukrainians have woken up to the sound of explosions,” he wrote on debating lately about more Ukraine. “
In Kyiv, shelling destroyed a metro station across the street from a factory owned by Artem, which produces parts for military-grade missiles. Authorities did not say whether the factory was hit directly.
In total, the attack affected six cities and there were reports of deaths and injuries across the country. Several dozen missiles were fired at Kyiv and more than 30 were intercepted, said Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s army administration. Eight other people were killed there, according to authorities.
In Boyarka, near Kyiv, the debris of a shot-down drone fell on a home and started a fire. Andrii Korobka, 47, said his mother was sleeping next to the room where the wreckage landed and was taken to hospital suffering from shock.
“The war continues and can affect any house, even if you think yours will never be touched,” Korobka said.
Tetiana Sakhnenko, who lives next door, said neighbors ran with buckets of water to put out the fire, but everything went quickly. “It’s very scary,” she says.
In the eastern city of Dnipro, four patients at a maternity hospital were rescued from a fire, five others were killed and 20 injured, officials said.
In Odessa, on the southern coast, falling debris from a drone sparked a fire in a multi-storey residential building, according to regional leader Oleh Kiper. Two other people were killed and 15 others, as well as two children, were injured, he said. .
The mayor of the western city of Lviv, Andrii Sadovyi, said one person was killed there, with three schools and a kindergarten damaged in a drone attack. Local emergency services said 30 people were injured.
In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the city had been subjected to at least three waves of airstrikes, adding S-300 and Kh-21 missile launches. One user was killed and at least nine were injured, the government said.
———
Dmytro Zhyhinas contributed to this story.
Have comments? Learn more here.
Click here to see all of our information on the coronavirus outbreak. Submit your coronavirus news.
Back to top