Russia fires 31 missiles at Kyiv in the first attack in weeks but Ukraine intercepts them all | AP News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired 31 ballistic and cruise missiles at Kyiv before dawn Thursday in the first attack on the Ukrainian capital in six weeks, officials said. Air defenses shot down all the incoming missiles, though 13 people including a child were injured by falling wreckage, they said.
Residents of Kyiv were woken up by loud explosions around 5 a.m. as the missiles arrived at roughly the same time from different directions, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Administration.
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched two ballistic missiles and 29 cruise missiles against the capital.
Kyiv has better air defenses than most regions of the large country. The missile interception rate is frequently high, rendering Russian attacks on the capital significantly less successful than during the early days of the war. Even so, Ukrainian officials warn that they need considerably more Western weapons if they are to prevail against Russia's invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had threatened Wednesday to "respond in kind" to Ukrainian aerial attacks in recent days on Russia's Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine.
READ MORE Hungary, Slovakia remain opposed to sending any arms to Ukraine to fight Russia's invasionEU leaders gather with Ukraine ammunition production and Gaza aid at the top of their agendaUS national security adviser Jake Sullivan visits Kyiv as stalemate in Washington holds up aid
At an event in the Kremlin, Putin said Russia "can respond in the same way regarding civilian infrastructure and all other objects of this kind that the enemy attacks. We have our own views on this matter and our own plans. We will follow what we have outlined."
An 11-year-old girl and a 38-year-old man were hospitalized in Kyiv, the city administration said. Eight other people sustained light injuries, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Ukraine's Emergency Service said around 80 people were evacuated from their homes.
Falling wreckage from the intercepted missiles set fire to at least one apartment building, burned parked cars and left craters in streets and a small park. Some streets were littered with debris, including glass from shattered windows.
Survivors, some of them in tears and visibly shaken as emergency workers treated them in the street, recounted narrow escapes.
Raisa Kozenko, a 71-year-old whose apartment lost its doors and windows in the blast, said her son jumped out of bed just in time.
"He was covered in blood, in the rubble," she said, trembling from shock. "And all I can say is ... the apartment is completely destroyed."
Mariia Margulis, 31, said a decision to stay in the corridor throughout the attack saved her family.
"The blast wave blew out all the windows on the side where everything happened," she said. "My mom was supposed to sleep in that room, but I asked her to move to the corridor in time, which saved us."
The attack occurred hours after a visit to Kyiv by President Joe Biden's top foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan.
On Thursday, five people were injured in the latest attack on the Belgorod region, which damaged homes and the city sports stadium, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia's Ministry of Defense said it stopped 10 rockets over the region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the country's Western partners to send more air defense systems so they can be distributed across the country where missile strikes have become more common.
"Every day, every night such ... terror happens," he said on Telegram after Thursday's attack on Kyiv. "World unity is capable to stop it by helping us with more air defense systems."
Zelenskyy said Russia doesn't have missiles that can evade U.S.-made Patriots and other advanced air defense weapons.
European Union leaders were considering new ways to help boost arms and ammunition production for Ukraine at a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
Russia has largely turned its attention to other Ukrainian cities, targeting them with drones and ballistic missiles.
On Wednesday, Russian ballistic missiles killed five people and injured nine in the eastern Kharkiv region, and strike on southern Odesa last week killed 21.
Tags
Who is online
220 visitors
What now?
tsk, tsk, tsk... another humiliating defeat for trump and his allies in congress and abroad...
Brandon's family and the Clintons have received more money from Russia than Trump.
So why haven't you gone to Ukraine and joined up? They are desperately needing fresh meat for the Russian grinder. Not more online cheerleaders.
Pretty damned hypocritical of Vicious Vlad to say he is responding in kind to Ukraine's attacks when Russia has been indiscriminately attacking Ukraine and it's civilian populace for the last two years. Putin is merely reaping what he has sown and Karma is a real bummer sometimes.
So the faux John Wayne Zelenskyy is getting desperate enough to start carrying attacks out in Russia.
So much for Ukraine simply trying to retake their own territory.
What is Zelenskyy going to do when Brandon up the stakes, especially if Republicans don't go along with continued funding of this money pit war?
Better still what will Brandon do when Russia decides to use ordinance like tactical nukes and chemical/biological weapons that Ukraine doesn't have access to?
It is well past time for this shit show to be over. Ukraine will never get Crimea back- it was never their's to begin with. Nor will they get back the south eastern provinces that are mostly Russian. They didn't want to be part of Ukraine before- they sure as hell do not want to be a part of of Ukraine now. Zelenskyy has proven to be a true fascist imprisoning his enemies and political opponents; and removing any general with the temerity to question feeding their troops into the Russian meat grinder by pressing an ill advised offensive.
So you are of the opinion that Zelenksy should just cave into Putin's demands, lay down arms, and let Russia just take over the whole region. If that is so, that's pretty unrealistic.
Seems like a ridiculous waste of Russian resources, doesn't it? Imagine how much more profitable it would be to engage in friendly trade with Ukraine than to get bogged down in throwing away money and lives.