Russia targets Kiev with the largest missile attack in weeks
Russian missiles flew into Kiev early Thursday in the biggest attack on the Ukrainian capital in weeks, wounding at least 13 people and damaging several residential buildings and industrial facilities. local officials.
The Ukrainian Air Force said air defense systems had intercepted all 31 Russian missiles aimed at Kiev. However, debris from the downed rockets fell in several parts of the city, causing injuries and damage. No deaths have been reported so far.
“Such terror continues day and night,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a speech message on social media including a video of firefighters dousing burning buildings with water.
The attack began in the early morning with loud explosions that woke residents around 5 a.m. as air defense systems went into action. Many people rushed to seek shelter in metro stations. Several orange fireballs lit the sky, apparently the result of missile interceptions.
The air raid siren ended at 6:10 am, just as the sun rose, exposing the damage.
Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of Kiev, said on Telegram that rocket debris had caused fires in at least three residential buildings and parking lots. He said emergency services had been deployed to help the victims. Four people were hospitalized, the city’s military administration said.
Photos of the aftermath of the attack released by Oleksiy Kuleba, the deputy head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, and local authorities showed burned out cars in front of a building with a facade blackened by fire, a large hole at the foot of a pink building with all windows shattered, and a destroyed house on charred ground.
In the Podilskyi district, home to industrial facilities that Russia has targeted in the past, a plume of black smoke rose early in the morning, indicating a hit. said Mr. Klitschko A fire had broken out at an electricity substation in the area.
Ukrainian officials rarely confirm attacks on strategic industrial and military targets.
Thursday’s attack came at a difficult time for the Ukrainian military, with Russian forces continuing ground attacks on several locations along the more than 900 kilometers (560 miles) front line.
Faced with troop and ammunition shortages, Ukraine has struggled to contain Russian attacks in the east and south. Ukrainian officials have pledged to launch a counteroffensive this year, but experts say the military has still not received the kind of weapons that would allow it to regain the initiative on the battlefield, while US aid is held up in Congress.
On Wednesday, President Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan made an unannounced trip to Kiev in an effort to demonstrate the White House’s continued commitment to Ukraine’s defense. He urged Republican lawmakers to approve the stalled billions of dollars in aid package.
“It has already gone on too long,” Mr. Sullivan told reporters during a briefing at Ukraine’s presidential office. “And I know that – you know that.”
Thursday’s attack on Kiev echoed a strategy Russia used in airstrikes in late December that involved overwhelming Ukrainian air defenses with multiple launches of different types of missiles, including ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
Russia has launched relatively few large-scale missile attacks in recent months, despite a capacity to produce more than 115 long-range missiles per month. Ukrainian officials.
Mr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukraine urgently needs more air defense systems from Western allies. He pointed to recent rocket attacks on the cities of Kharkov, Odesa and Kherson, which claimed many lives.
“We need the support of our partners,” Mr. Zelensky said. “We must prove that terror is always the loser.”
Oleksandra Mykolyshyn reporting contributed.