Russia fired 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight as Ukraine faced Patriot missile shortages
\n Moscow
\nRussia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine\u2019s \u200bcapital Kyiv in the early hours on Thursday, tearing apart several residential buildings, killing at least 18 people and wounding scores.
\nMultiple explosions shook central Kyiv and reverberated across the capital throughout the night \u200cas thousands of residents rushed to bomb shelters and underground metro stations.
\nThe attack caused the widest destruction in Kyiv so far this year, and was the deadliest since at least May when 24 people were killed in a strike that brought down an apartment block.
\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who cut short a visit to Ireland to rush home, said damage had been reported at more than 20 sites across the capital.
\n\u201cThe main strike was directed at Kyiv,\u201d he said. \u201cAir defence supplies for Ukraine are an \u200babsolute and critical priority,\u201d he said, urging Ukraine\u2019s allies to maintain contributions to a fund to buy US weapons including Patriot air defence missiles for Ukraine.
\nRussia launched 74 missiles and 496 \u200bdrones overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Yuri Ihnat, the Air Force spokesperson, said the number of ballistic missiles was unusually high and the interception rate for them was low. Ukraine has struggled with shortages of Patriot missiles in recent months.
\nThe Russian Defence Ministry, in a Telegram post, said its \u201cmassive attack\u201d using long-range, high-precision air-, land-, sea-launched weapons and drones hit military and \u200benergy facilities, as well as airports in Kyiv and other locations.
\nMoscow said the attacks were retaliation for Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia. Kyiv, which has stepped up strikes in recent weeks on Russia\u2019s domestic fuel \u200bsupply, said it had hit an oil refinery overnight in the Russian region of Nizhny Novgorod, where the governor reported one person killed in a strike on an industrial facility.
\nThe Kremlin said Russian military commanders briefed President Vladimir Putin about the Russian attacks, adding that Moscow would continue to increase pressure on Ukraine to achieve its war aims.
\nDay of mourning announced in Kyiv
\nKyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a day of mourning in Kyiv for Friday. He said that damage was \u200brecorded across the entire city of about 3 million people, with some buildings heavily damaged.
\nKatarina Mathernova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, said that \u201cRussia unleashed hell on Kyiv\u201d overnight, and had struck accommodation used by diplomatic personnel.
\nDiplomats were unharmed, but their belongings were damaged in the fire that engulfed the building, she said.
\nEmergency services were sifting through the rubble of what used to be a nine-storey building on the left bank of the Dnipro River that bisects the city as \u200cthe sun rose and fires flared up around it.
\nCity officials said that more than 90 people, including children, paramedics and drivers at an ambulance station, were wounded and that some people were still trapped inside damaged residential buildings.
\n\u201cOur house is on fire. Oleg was pulling our neighbour out of the burning house, while I was phoning all the emergency services during the explosions,\u201d Iryna Plekhova, a Kyiv resident, said on Facebook, posting a picture of a half-destroyed apartment building with no windows.
\n\u201cWe do not have an apartment anymore.\u201d
\nThe National Institute of Biochemistry was among many buildings damaged: its state-of-the-art biochemistry laboratory and other offices were gutted during the attack.
\n\u201cThis is a \u200bcatastrophe for medical and biological science of Ukraine,\u201d biologist \u200bYurii Danylovych told Reuters, saying the lab housed rare equipment.
\nUkraine\u2019s neighbour Poland, a NATO and EU member, briefly scrambled fighter jets as a preventive measure. Finland also briefly issued a temporary aviation restriction zone in the eastern Gulf of Finland, its defence forces said.
\nMore pressure on Russia is needed
\nAfter years in which Ukraine bore the brunt of relentless long-range attacks from Russia, \u200bKyiv has intensified its own strikes deeper into Russian territory in recent months, mainly hitting energy targets. That has triggered a fuel crisis in Russia, forcing the world\u2019s third-biggest oil producer to import gasoline from \u200bas far away as India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russia fired 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight as Ukraine faced Patriot missile shortages Moscow Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine\u2019s \u200bcapital Kyiv in the early hours on Thursday, tearing apart several residential buildings, killing at least 18 people and wounding scores. Multiple explosions shook central Kyiv and reverberated across […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n