By ILLIA NOVIKOV and HANNA ARHIROVA (Associated Press)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones towards Ukrainian targets, officers stated Friday, killing at the least 24 civilians throughout the nation in what an air drive official stated was the largest aerial barrage of the warfare.
The Ukrainian air drive intercepted many of the ballistic and cruise missiles and the Shahed-type drones in a single day, stated Ukraine’s navy chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his official Telegram channel that it was “the most massive aerial attack” since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
According to the Ukrainian air drive, the earlier largest assault was in November 2022 when Russia launched 96 missiles towards Ukraine. This yr, the largest was 81 missiles on March 9, air drive information present.
Western officers and analysts not too long ago warned that Russia had restricted its cruise missile strikes in current months in an obvious effort to construct up stockpiles for enormous strikes through the winter, hoping to interrupt the Ukrainians’ spirit.
Fighting alongside the entrance line is basically slowed down by winter climate after Ukraine’s summer time counteroffensive didn’t make a major breakthrough alongside the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) line of contact.
Ukrainian officers have urged the nation’s Western allies to supply it with extra air defenses to guard itself towards aerial assaults like Friday’s one. Their appeals have come as indicators of warfare fatigue pressure efforts to maintain assist in place.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated the large assault ought to stir the world to additional motion in assist of Ukraine.
“These widespread attacks on Ukraine’s cities show (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will stop at nothing to achieve his aim of eradicating freedom and democracy,” Sunak stated on social media platform X, previously Twitter. “We must continue to stand with Ukraine — for as long as it takes.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated the size of the assault ought to wake individuals as much as Ukraine’s persevering with wants.
“Today, millions of Ukrainians awoke to the loud sound of explosions,” he wrote on X. “I wish those sounds of explosions in Ukraine could be heard all around the world. In all major capitals, headquarters, and parliaments, which are currently debating further support for Ukraine.”
At least 130 individuals have been injured and an unknown quantity have been buried below rubble through the roughly 18-hour onslaught, Ukrainian officers stated. Among the buildings reported to be broken throughout Ukraine have been a maternity hospital, house blocks and faculties.
In Boyarka, a metropolis close to Kyiv, the particles of a shot-down drone fell on a house and began a fireplace.
Andrii Korobka, 47, stated his mom was sleeping subsequent to the room the place the wreckage landed and was taken to hospital affected by shock.
“The war goes on, and it can happen to any house, even if you think yours will never be affected,” Korobka stated.
Tetiana Sakhnenko, who lives subsequent door, stated neighbors ran with buckets of water to place out the blaze but it surely unfold rapidly. “It’s so scary,” she stated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the Kremlin’s forces used all kinds of weapons, together with ballistic and cruise missiles.
“Today, Russia used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal,” Zelenskyy stated on X.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat stated Russia “apparently launched everything they have,” aside from submarine-launched Kalibr missiles, within the assault.
The aerial assault that started Thursday and continued via the evening hit six cities, together with the capital, Kyiv, and different areas from east to west and north to south Ukraine, in response to authorities.
Reports of deaths and harm got here in from throughout the nation.
Five individuals have been killed and 20 injured within the jap metropolis of Dnipro the place 4 maternity hospital sufferers have been rescued from a fireplace, officers stated.
In Odesa, on the southern coast, falling drone wreckage began a fireplace at a multi-story residential constructing, in response to the regional head, Oleh Kiper. Two individuals have been killed and 15, together with two youngsters, have been injured in the middle of the Odesa assault, he stated.
The mayor of the western metropolis of Lviv, Andrii Sadovyi, stated one particular person was killed and eight injured and three faculties and a kindergarten have been broken in a drone assault within the area.
Several dozen missiles have been launched in the direction of Kyiv through the evening, with greater than 30 of them intercepted, stated Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv navy administration. The assault began a fireplace at a warehouse within the capital’s Podil district the place 5 individuals reportedly have been pulled from the rubble. Three individuals have been killed within the capital.
In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov stated town was subjected to at the least three waves of aerial assaults in a single day that included S-300 and Kh-21 missile launches. One particular person was killed and at the least 9 injured, officers stated.
___
Dmytro Zhyhinas contributed to this story
___
Follow AP’s protection of the warfare in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Source: www.bostonherald.com”