Russia launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets overnight from Thursday to Friday.
Russia launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets, officials said Friday, killing at least 39 civilians across the country in what an Air Force official called the largest war air attack.
Many people were injured and an unknown number were buried under rubble during the assault, which lasted about 18 hours, Ukrainian officials said. A maternity ward, apartment buildings and schools were among the damaged buildings across Ukraine.
In the capital, Kyiv, debris of glass and metal littered the city streets. Air raid and emergency service sirens sounded as plumes of smoke rose into a bright blue sky.
Kateryna Ivanivna, a 72-year-old Kyiv resident, said she threw herself to the ground when a missile struck.
“There was an explosion, then flames,” she declared. “I covered my head and went down the street. Then I ran to the metro station.”
Meanwhile, in Poland, authorities said what was apparently a Russian missile entered the country’s airspace on Friday morning from Ukraine, before disappearing from radar.
During the attack on Ukraine, the Air Force intercepted most of the ballistic and cruise missiles as well as Shahed-type drones during the night, Ukrainian military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said.
Western officials and analysts recently warned that Russia had limited its cruise missile strikes for months in an apparent effort to build up stockpiles for massive strikes during the winter, hoping to break the spirit of the Ukrainians.
The result was “the most massive air attack” since the total invasion of Russia in February 2022, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his official Telegram channel. This attack surpassed the previous one, in November 2022, when Russia launched 96 missiles, and the largest this year, with 81 missiles launched on March 9, according to Air Force records.
International reactions
The UN Security Council met hastily on Friday to discuss the attack, which Under-Secretary-General Khaled Khiari called“terrible”.
“Tragically, the year 2023 ends as it began, with devastating violence against the Ukrainian people”he declared, recalling that international humanitarian law prohibits attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that the bombing shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin must be stopped, “But unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the vital weapons and air defense systems that Ukraine needs to protect its people. Congress must intervene and act.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the attack should prompt the world to take further action to support Ukraine.
“These widespread attacks on Ukrainian cities show that Putin will stop at nothing to achieve his goal of eradicating freedom and democracy”Mr Sunak said on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “We must continue to support Ukraine, for as long as it takes.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Russia attack “in the strongest terms” and said attacks on civilians are unacceptable and must stop immediately, according to a statement.
In Kyiv, the bombing damaged a metro station opposite a factory owned by the Artem company, which produces components for various military-grade missiles. Authorities did not say whether the factory was directly hit.
In total, the attack affected six towns, and reports of deaths and damage came in from across the country. Several dozen missiles were launched in the direction of Kyiv, of which more than 30 were intercepted, said Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration. Eight people were killed at the scene, according to authorities.
In Boyarka, near Kyiv, debris from a downed drone fell on a house and started a fire. Andrii Korobka, 47, said his mother was sleeping next to the room where the debris landed and was taken to hospital in shock.
“The war continues, and it can happen to any house, even if you think yours will never be touched”said Mr. Korobka.
Tetiana Sakhnenko, who lives next door, said neighbors rushed in with buckets of water to put out the fire, but it quickly spread. “It’s so scary.”she said.
In the eastern city of Dnipro, four maternity patients were rescued from a fire, five people were killed and 20 injured, according to authorities.
In Odessa, on the south coast, the fall of a drone carcass sparked a fire in a multi-story residential building, according to the head of the region, Oleh Kiper. Two people were killed and 15 others, including two children, were injured.
The mayor of the western city of Lviv, Andrii Sadovyi, said one person was killed in that city, where three schools and a kindergarten were damaged by a drone attack. Local emergency services said 30 people were injured.
In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the city suffered at least three waves of air attacks that included firing of S-300 and Kh-21 missiles. One person was killed and at least nine others were injured, authorities said.
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