Russian missile strikes wound 11 in Kyiv – Zelensky
Ukraine said Russian strikes on Kyiv wounded 11 people on Saturday, with missiles hitting the city even before air raid alerts sounded.
AFP journalists in Kyiv heard two series of explosions in the early hours, with an air alert siren sounding minutes after the first blast.
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Moscow has been firing missiles and drones at Kyiv almost daily since launching its invasion in February 2022.
But a spate of deadly attacks using dozens of ultra-fast ballistic missiles has recently challenged Ukraine’s air defences.
“Eleven people, including a child, have been injured in Kyiv during last night’s Russian attack,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X on Saturday.
“Civilian infrastructure was hit even before the air raid alert was issued.”
He posted videos of emergency teams working in the smoke and rubble of ruined buildings.
“Over the course of the night, Russia launched more than 120 drones and 12 missiles, half of them ballistic,” Zelensky said.
Apartment buildings, offices and a theological seminary were damaged in Kyiv and recovery efforts were also ongoing in the Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv regions, he added.
– Air defence call –
Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, confirmed earlier on Telegram that Russia was “attacking the capital with missiles” and urged residents to seek shelter.
Three people were treated in hospital and three at the scene, he said in a toll preceding that given by Zelensky, without providing further details.
In a Russian attack earlier this week, the blast of a missile over the Kyiv skyline also rocked sleeping residents before the city’s air alert sirens sounded.
On Saturday “our defenders managed to shoot down most of the targets — but not the ballistic ones”, Zelensky said.
He repeated his plea for allies to send more military aid to help it fight off the Russian invasion, now well into its fifth year.
He urged the United States to swiftly follow through on its pledge to license Ukraine to make Patriot air defence systems.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would allow Ukraine to manufacture the missiles. Zelensky said on Thursday that technical details still needed to be agreed.
Sergiy Sternenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister, said that impacts before the sirens could indicate Russia had used S-400 anti-aircraft missiles to carry out strikes on the ground.
“During ground attacks, these missiles are more difficult to detect by radar,” he wrote on Telegram.
“There is no military logic to such attacks. It is simply terrorism for the sake of terrorism.”
On Friday Ukrainian drone strikes hit oil refineries in southern Russia, as Kyiv targeted its foe’s energy infrastructure.
AFP
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