Russia unleashed a significant missile and drone barrage on Kyiv early Friday, killing not less than six people, starting fires and scattering debris because the sound of explosions boomed across town, Ukrainian authorities said. A pregnant woman was amongst not less than 35 people injured.
Emergency crews responded to multiple strikes in the course of the night, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration. Russia used not less than 430 drones and 18 missiles within the attack that left gaping holes in some city buildings, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Russia has waged a devastating aerial campaign against Ukraine since its all-out invasion of its neighbor nearly 4 years ago. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts this yr to stop the fighting have thus far come to nothing.
Friday’s aerial assault, which also targeted Odesa within the south and Kharkiv within the northeast, was mostly aimed toward Kyiv, where drones and missiles smashed into high-rise apartment blocks, based on Zelenskyy.
It was “a specially calculated attack to cause as much harm as possible to people and civilians,” he said in a post on Telegram.
Moscow denies targeting civilian areas, with the Russian Defense Ministry saying Friday it carried out an overnight strike on Ukraine’s “military-industrial and energy facilities.” Ukrainian officials scoff at those claims, showing repeated damage to homes and public buildings.
The attack was the most important on Kyiv in almost three weeks. Most up-to-date Russian aerial attacks have aimed toward electricity infrastructure across the country ahead of the bitter winter months.
Ukraine used its American-made Patriot air defense systems to repel the attack and shot down 14 missiles, Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader has pleaded with foreign supporters to send more of the delicate systems.
Within the Odesa region, Russian drones struck a busy street on market day in Chornomorsk, killing two people and injuring 11 others, including a 19-month-old girl, regional military administration chief Oleh Kiper said.
‘My hair was on fire’
Kyiv residents told of harrowing escapes and near misses at nighttime.
Mariia Kalchenko said it was a miracle she survived after her constructing was hit.
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“I didn’t hear anything, I just realized that my hair was on fire,” the 46-year-old volunteer rescue dog handler told The Associated Press.
She turned on her flashlight and saw that her dog had moved away in fright. “I turned around and saw that there was no wall, and there was a neighbor’s apartment, the neighbor was screaming, there was no door, and the flames were going from the front door into the apartment,” she said.
Oleh Hudyma, 59, said she became aware of the attack and intended to go to a bomb shelter but she wasn’t quick enough.
“I got up, got dressed, went out, and there was an explosion. I couldn’t hear the (drone) engine running, just an explosion, flames, all the pieces flew,” she said. “I used to be within the kitchen and just fell to the ground.”
City authorities warned that power and water outages are possible.
Eight of the capital’s 10 districts reported damage. Emergency crews fought fires in apartment blocks, debris from explosions was strewn across yards and cars parked within the streets were set ablaze.
In the broader Kyiv region, Russian strikes damaged critical infrastructure and personal homes, injuring not less than one civilian, the top of the regional military administration, Mykola Kalashnyk, said. A 55-year-old man in Bila Tserkva suffered burns and was hospitalized, he said. Fires broke out in private houses within the capital’s suburbs.
The strike got here as European Union officials warned this week that Ukraine must proceed to crack down on corruption following a significant graft scandal that has put top nuclear energy officials under scrutiny. But additionally they offered assurances that aid will proceed to flow as Kyiv strains to carry back Russia’s invasion.
Russia accuses Ukraine of hitting civilian sites
Ukraine has responded by launching its own domestically developed drones and missiles against targets on Russian soil, especially oil refineries and depots that provide Moscow with income and manufacturing plants that offer the armed forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that its air defense forces shot down 216 Ukrainian drones overnight over a variety of Russian regions, including the annexed Crimea. It didn’t mention missiles.
Nevertheless, Zelenskyy said Ukraine used a modification of domestically produced Neptune missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of hitting civilian facilities and claimed the overnight strike on Kyiv got here in response to that.
Over 60 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over the southern Krasnodar region that borders Crimea, based on the Defense Ministry. A complete of 45 drones were destroyed over the Saratov region deeper inside Russia, while one other 19 were shot down over Crimea.
Attack on Russia’s Novorossiysk port
In Novorossiysk, a port city within the Krasnodar region, an attack damaged an oil depot on the Sheskharis transshipment complex, in addition to unidentified “coastal structures,” local authorities said.
A source in Ukraine’s Security Service confirmed the Novorossiysk attack to The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly.
Novorossiysk is the second biggest port in Russia for oil exports, the source said, adding that the attack damaged oil-loading stands on the piers, pipeline infrastructure and the units, sparking a big fire.
Ukraine also struck the positions of a S-300/S-400 air defense system in Novorossiysk, the source said.
Falling drone debris also damaged a civilian vessel within the port, and three crew members were hospitalized with injuries, Russian officials said. Several residential buildings were also damaged, and a person from considered one of those buildings was hospitalized with injuries, officials said.
Within the Saratov region, Gov. Roman Busargin said that the attack damage unspecified “civilian infrastructure.” Unconfirmed media reports said that an oil refinery was hit.