‘Night of horror’: Russian missile and drone barrage kills 21 in Ukraine capital
Kyiv declares a day of mourning after massive bombardment, which Moscow says is retaliation for strikes on civil infrastructure
Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in the early hours on Thursday, killing at least 21 people, wounding scores more and damaging around 130 buildings in one of the biggest attacks of the war.
Multiple explosions shook buildings and reverberated across the capital throughout the night as thousands of residents rushed to bomb shelters and underground metro stations.
The attack caused the widest destruction in Kyiv so far this year, and was the deadliest since at least May when 24 people were killed in a strike that brought down a residential block.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who cut short a visit to Ireland to rush home, said the “main strike was directed at Kyiv”. “Air defence supplies for Ukraine are an absolute and critical priority,” he said, urging Ukraine’s allies to maintain contributions to a fund to buy US weapons, including Patriot air defence missiles for Ukraine.
“This night, Russia once again carried out a cynical, large-scale attack on Ukraine,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on the Telegram app. “The enemy launched dozens of ballistic missiles. Kyiv was hit the hardest.”
Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones during the attack, the Ukrainian air force said. Air defence units shot down most of those but 25 ballistic missiles and 12 drones struck 33 locations.