Largest Russian missile attack on Ukraine since war began

(Reuters) – Ukraine was the target of a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Friday, the largest since the start of the war, which hit almost every major city in the country and left at least 31 dead and more than 160 injured civilians, authorities announced.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said Russia fired about 110 missiles of all types, with the air force saying it shot down 87, as well as 27 Iranian-designed Shahed drones.

The cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa and even Dnipro were targeted by a “combined attack” including 158 drones and hypersonic, ballistic and cruise missiles, the Ukrainian army said.

“We can speak of a massive attack,” declared its spokesperson, Youri Ihnat, on television. This is the largest number of missiles used in a single attack since the war began in February 2022, Air Force Chief of Staff Mikola Oleshchouk said.

Kyiv had warned in recent weeks that the Russians had worked to replenish their stock of missiles and had said it expected new large-scale attacks, asking its allies for more anti-aircraft systems to protect its territory.

“Today, millions of Ukrainians woke up to the sound of explosions. I hope that the sound of these explosions in Ukraine will resonate throughout the world,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba.

“Russia has no other scenario in mind than the total destruction of Ukraine,” added his ministry, deeming it useless to talk about a truce with Moscow.

Air alerts sounded from the middle of the night to early morning and the human toll is likely to rise, with around ten people being buried under the rubble of a warehouse destroyed by falling debris from a missile in Kyiv , according to the city’s military administration.

These strikes targeted military targets as well as civilian buildings, such as hospitals or schools, and “critical” infrastructure, particularly energy, said the Ukrainian authorities.

US President Joe Biden said Friday’s attacks were a “stark reminder” of Vladimir Putin’s determination to destroy Ukraine and that the Russian president “must be stopped”.

Joe Biden once again urged the US Congress to pass an additional $61 billion in aid to Ukraine. Republicans refuse to approve this aid without an agreement on strengthening border security with Mexico.

UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL OBJECT IN POLAND

The Ukrainian presidency gave an official death toll of 26, but reports from several regions indicate that 31 people were killed in the bombings.

Eight people were killed and 13 others injured in the Zaporizhia region, the region’s governor announced.

Six people died in Dnipropetrovsk, in the center of the country. A shopping center and an apartment building were destroyed. A maternity ward was also affected but patients and staff were able to be evacuated in time, the Ministry of Health said.

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitchko confirmed the death of one person in the warehouse hit by a missile. A previous report had reported two deaths. Apartment buildings and an unoccupied building in the capital were also hit, a military official said.

Four people died in Odessa, in the south of the country, where residential buildings and a school were hit, according to the governor who also reported at least 22 injured, including two children.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on television that his town near the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine was rocked by 22 explosions that left three people dead and 13 injured. According to the regional governor, a hospital, a warehouse and “industrial infrastructure” are among the targets.

Anti-aircraft defenses were called upon as far as Lviv, in western Ukraine, where one person died in an apartment building. Three schools and a nursery were also damaged.

The Polish military reported that an unidentified “aerial object” from Ukraine had entered Polish airspace during the attack on the Lviv region, but could not say at this stage whether it had shot down in Poland, a NATO member country.

All indications are that the object that entered Polish airspace on Friday was likely a Russian missile that then returned to Ukraine, a Polish general later said.

A Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile landed in southern Poland, after missing its target in November 2022, and the debris of a Russian missile was also found in a Polish forest in April.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance was “monitoring” the situation and “remaining vigilant”.

This massive Russian attack on Ukraine came four days after cruise missiles destroyed a major Russian warship, the Novocherkassk, in a Crimean port.

Russia also lost five fighter planes shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses over the Black Sea and territories it controls in eastern Ukraine at the end of last week, according to the Ukrainian army, and many voices were raised in Moscow to demand reprisals.

(Written by Yuliia Dysa, with contributions from Olena Harmash and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, Sergiy Chalyi in Zaporizhia, French version Camille Raynaud, Tangi Salaün and Kate Entringer, edited by Bertrand Boucey and Camille Raynaud)