Ballistic missiles struck Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, and by the end of the day at least 18 people were dead in Ukraine. Al Jazeera reported that the missile attacks alone killed at least 16. Jet-powered drones fired at Kyiv Oblast and the capital during the day killed at least two more.
Most of the dead were in Kyiv. At least one person was killed in the surrounding region.
Explosions rang out across several districts, among them Holosiivskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi. In Solomianskyi, a nine-storey residential building collapsed and caught fire, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. A children’s hospital in the same district was damaged, with windows shattered and cars on the grounds hit. “People are trapped” at another residential building, Klitschko added, and parts of Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi lost electricity.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported fires in residential buildings and warehouses. Rescuers pulled at least two people from the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Nine hours overnight
The daytime strikes followed an overnight attack that went on for nine hours and also damaged warehouses in Boryspil, outside Kyiv. Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired at least 44 missiles and that 39 were shot down. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it hit “military-industrial facilities, a transportation and logistics centre, and warehouses” in Kyiv city and the region. It also said it shot down 726 Ukrainian drones between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, over several Russian regions, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Audrey MacAlpine, reporting for Al Jazeera from the capital, said air raid alarms were still sounding on Thursday morning. “We know that two fuel industrial facilities were hit,” she said. She pointed to Ukraine’s shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles, which she said would be “a problem when Russia begins to target energy infrastructure, sites that will keep the heat and electricity on this winter.”
Neighbors scramble jets
Poland’s military command said it had mobilised aircraft and activated air defences, particularly along the border with Ukraine. Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said radar picked up aerial targets near the Ukrainian border overnight, and it sent up two Spanish jets deployed on NATO missions plus a Romanian air force helicopter. A drone entered Romanian airspace near Galati and crashed in an unpopulated area of Tulcea county.
Politics in Kyiv
The attacks came a day after Ukraine’s parliament confirmed Yevhenii Khmara as defence minister, 312-2, well above the 226 votes needed. Khmara is a career intelligence official who rose through the Security Service of Ukraine and once led its Alpha special operations unit. He told lawmakers he would “do everything to defend Ukraine.” He replaces Mykhailo Fedorov, who was ousted in July after a public break with armed forces commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii.
A day before the vote, Fedorov released a video urging Ukraine to move toward elections, which wartime law currently suspends. On Wednesday, dozens of demonstrators rallied in Kyiv in support of his call.
Sources
- Russia strikes Ukraine with 70 missiles and 650 drones leaving people trapped
- At least 18 killed in heavy Russian attack on Ukrainian cities
- At least 18 people killed in Ukraine as Russia carries out more attacks
Sources
- Russia launches deadly strikes on Ukraine as 70… – The Mirror
- At least 18 killed in heavy Russian attack on Ukrainian… | Cyprus Mail
