Russia launched an attack on several cities in Ukraine in a “massive” assault overnight Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens across the country.
Missiles and drones reportedly struck the capital, Kyiv, as well the cities of Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia. Millions across the country received air raid alerts instructing them to seek shelter.
About a thousand kilometres separate Lviv in the country’s west and Kharkiv in the east.
“We haven’t seen so much red on our monitors for a long time,” Ukraine’s Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said, adding that Russia used a combination of hypersonic, cruise and ballistic missiles to strike targets across the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram that Russia had fired approximately 110 missiles at Ukraine, “most of which were shot down.”
In Kyiv, an apartment building, metro station and warehouse were damaged, killing at least one person and injuring seven others, according to the city’s mayor on Telegram.
In the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, a maternity hospital and a shopping centre were targeted, while the northeastern city of Kharkiv came under “massive rocket fire,” the cities’ mayors said on Telegram.
“There are people killed by Russian missiles today that were launched at civilian facilities, civilian buildings,” presidential aide Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.
“We are doing everything to strengthen our air shield. But the world needs to see that we need more support and strength to stop this terror,” he added.
The assault comes days after Ukraine bombed a Russian warship in Crimea, striking a major blow against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
“We will fight to guarantee the safety of our country, every city, and all our people. Russian terror must lose — and it will,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
