Extract from ABC News
Kyiv says Russia launched 122 missiles and 36 drones against Ukrainian targets overnight, killing at least 18 civilians and injuring at least 130 in what an air force official described as the biggest aerial barrage of the 22-month war.
Key points:
- Ukraine's president says Russia used "nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal" in an 18-hour barrage
- Civilians have been killed and others left injured or buried under rubble, according to Ukrainian officials
- Ukraine say it was the "most massive aerial attack" of the war so far
Scores of people were injured and an unknown number were buried under rubble during the roughly 18-hour onslaught, Ukrainian officials said.
Among the buildings reported to be damaged across Ukraine were a maternity hospital, apartment blocks and schools.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Kremlin's forces used a wide variety of weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles.
"Today, Russia used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal," Mr Zelenskyy said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
"A maternity ward, educational facilities, a shopping mall, multi-storey residential buildings and private homes, a commercial storage, and a parking lot. Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and other cities," he said.
"We will surely respond to terrorist strikes."
The Ukrainian air force intercepted 87 of the missiles and 27 of the Shahed-type drones overnight, Ukraine's military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said.
Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his official Telegram channel that it was "the most massive aerial attack" since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The aerial attack that began Thursday and continued through the night hit six cities, including the capital, Kyiv, and other areas from east to west and north to south Ukraine, according to authorities.
In the capital, Kyiv, at least three people were reported dead and 22 confirmed wounded after residential buildings and another uninhabited property were hit, police and other officials said.
Kyiv resident Mariia told the Reuters news agency that she had been awoken at home by a "horrible sound" and taken shelter in her bathroom.
"It was so frightening. A missile was flying and everything was buzzing, whirring. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to run down to the shelter," she said. "As I went inside the bathroom, the mirror flew off [the wall]."
Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said Russia "apparently launched everything they have", except for submarine-launched Kalibr missiles, in the attack.
Russia's army said its attacks on Ukraine in the past week were aimed at critical infrastructure, industry and military facilities. Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine had fired three US-made HARM missiles into the Russian region of Belgorod, but they had been destroyed by air defence systems.
NATO member Poland said what was most likely a Russian missile also entered and exited its airspace during the Russian strikes.
According to the Ukrainian air force, the previous biggest assault on Ukraine was in November 2022, when Russia launched 96 missiles. This year, the biggest was 81 missiles on March 9, air force records show.
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-kilometre line of contact.
Ukrainian officials have urged the country's Western allies to provide it with more air defences to protect itself against aerial attacks like Friday's. Their appeals have come as signs of war fatigue strain efforts to keep support in place.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said the latest attacks proved there could be no talk of truce with Moscow.
"Russia is not considering any other scenarios than the complete destruction of Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged allies to continue with long-term military aid.
"Today, millions of Ukrainians awoke to the loud sound of explosions. I wish those sounds of explosions in Ukraine could be heard all around the world," he said.
The US ambassador to Kyiv said the strikes showed Ukraine "needs funding now", as the White House pushes for more military aid despite opposition in Congress.
"Ukraine needs funding now to continue to fight for freedom from such horror in 2024," Bridget Brink wrote on X.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Moscow's latest missile strikes showed Russian President Vladimir Putin "will stop at nothing to achieve his aim of eradicating freedom and democracy".
"We will not let him win. We must continue to stand with Ukraine — for as long as it takes," he added on X.
Wires/ABC
No comments:
Post a Comment