Eighteen dead in one of Russia’s biggest missile attacks of war, kyiv says

Russia on Friday unleashed one of its largest missile attacks against Ukraine during the war, killing 18 civilians, wounding more than 130 and hitting residential buildings in kyiv, the south and west of the country, officials said.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said the big year-end airstrike showed there should be “no talk of a truce” with the Kremlin at a time when uncertainty hangs over the future of vital Western support for kyiv.

“Today, millions of Ukrainians woke up to the loud sound of explosions. “I wish those sounds of the explosions in Ukraine could be heard all over the world,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, urging allies to continue long-term military aid.

In the capital, Kyivat least three people were reported dead and twenty-two confirmed injured after residential buildings and other uninhabited property were attacked, police and other officials said.

Kiev resident Mariia told Reuters she had been woken up in her home by a “horrible sound” and had taken refuge in her bathroom.

“It was so scary. A missile was flying and everything was humming, humming. He did not know what to do. He wanted to run towards the shelter”, said. “When I went into the bathroom, the mirror flew (off the wall).”

The Air Force said it had shot down 87 cruise missiles and 27 drones of a total of 158 aerial “targets” fired by Russia.

The Polish Army, a member of the NATOsaid that an unidentified aerial object had entered its airspace from neighboring Ukraine and had been tracked by its air defenses until its signal disappeared.

Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, neither denied nor confirmed the report, but pointed to similar incidents in Poland and Romania during past Russian airstrikes.

Army chief Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said the attack had targeted critical infrastructure and industrial and military facilities. There was no immediate comment from Russia, which denies attacking civilians.

“Russia attacked with everything it has in its arsenal… Approximately 110 missiles were fired, most of which were shot down,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram Messenger.

Ukraine has been warning for weeks that Russia could be stockpiling missiles to launch a major airstrike against the energy system. Last winter, millions of people were plunged into darkness when Russian attacks hit the power grid.

The Foreign Ministry said Friday’s attack was “one of the largest missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns” since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.

The Energy Ministry reported power outages in the southern regions of Odessa, northeast Kharkiv, central Dnipropetrovsk and the area outside kyiv.

Widespread damage reported

As rescuers searched through the rubble of an attack that hit a house in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Viktor Chuhunov, 73, told Reuters he was at home when he suddenly heard a powerful explosion.

“A woman died here. “I don’t know if her son was at home, maybe he was at work,” he said about the house.

The missiles also hit several infrastructure facilities in Zaporizhzhia, the Interior Minister said in Telegram Messenger.

Five people were killed in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where missiles hit a shopping mall, a house and a six-story residential building, police said.

Three people were killed in the Black Sea port city of Odessa and at least 15 were injured, including two children, the regional governor said, reporting hits on residential buildings.

In the Lviv region, bordering Poland, missile attacks on an unidentified critical infrastructure facility were confirmed, the president’s office said.

One person died in a damaged multi-story residential building in the city of Lviv, the regional governor said. Three schools and a daycare center were also damaged, according to the mayor.

In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a missile attack damaged a warehouse, an industrial facility, a medical center and a transportation depot, the regional governor said. One person was killed and 11 others were injured, he said.