Russia bombs cities across Ukraine in ‘massive’ overnight assault – POLITICO

Russia launched an assault on a number of cities in Ukraine in a “large” assault in a single day Thursday, killing greater than 20 and injuring scores of individuals throughout the nation.

Missiles and drones reportedly struck the capital, Kyiv, as nicely the cities of Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia. Tens of millions of residents obtained air raid alerts instructing them to hunt shelter.

A couple of thousand kilometers separate Lviv in Ukraine’s west and Kharkiv within the east.

“We haven’t seen a lot purple on our screens for a very long time,” Ukrainian Air Drive spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat stated, including that Russia used a mixture of hypersonic, cruise and ballistic missiles to strike targets.

The Ukrainian Air Drive on Friday stated it shot down 114 of the 158 drones and missiles fired by Russia.

In Kyiv, an condo constructing, metro station and warehouse have been broken, killing no less than one particular person and injuring seven others, in response to town’s mayor on Telegram.

Within the central Ukrainian metropolis of Dnipro, a maternity hospital and a purchasing centre have been focused, whereas the northeastern metropolis of Kharkiv got here beneath “large rocket hearth,” the cities’ mayors stated on Telegram.

“In whole, 26 folks have been killed and greater than 120 folks have been injured in Ukraine on account of the mass shelling within the morning,” Oleksii Kuleba, deputy head of the Workplace of the President of Ukraine, stated Friday afternoon.

“There are folks killed by Russian missiles right this moment that have been launched at civilian services, civilian buildings,” presidential aide Andriy Yermak stated on Telegram.

“We’re doing every part to strengthen our air defend. However the world must see that we’d like extra assist and power to cease this terror,” he added.

‘Heinous wave of assaults’

The assault comes days after Ukraine bombed a Russian warship in Crimea, placing a significant blow in opposition to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, however amid indicators of slipping Western assist for Ukraine, with fierce debate in the USA about continued army assist for the nation’s push-back in opposition to Russia.

“We are going to combat to ensure the security of our nation, each metropolis, and all our folks. Russian terror should lose — and it’ll,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on Telegram.

The newest assault triggered contemporary worldwide condemnation Friday. U.Okay. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated on X that the assaults confirmed Russian President Vladimir Putin “will cease at nothing to attain his purpose of eradicating freedom and democracy.”

Denise Brown, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, issued a press release condemning “within the strongest phrases” Russia’s “heinous wave of assaults on populated areas of Ukraine over the previous few hours, which has left a path of destruction, demise and human struggling.”

Polish airspace incursion

In an extra improvement Friday, Poland — a NATO member nation — stated a Russian missile appeared to have briefly entered its territory.

“Every little thing signifies {that a} Russian missile entered Polish airspace,” Basic Wiesław Marian Kukuła stated Friday, in response to Polish information outlet Onet.

Polish authorities stated the article entered the nation’s territory for lower than three minutes and violated its airspace for about 40 kilometers.

Polish President Andrzej Duda mentioned the incident with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg Friday. NATO “is monitoring the scenario & we’ll stay in touch because the details are established,” Stoltenberg stated on X.

This story has been up to date with additional reporting. Laura Hülsemann contributed reporting.