The Ukrainian military estimated that Russia fired 158 missiles and drones.
Kyiv:
Russia launched an intense air attack on Ukraine on Friday, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens across the country in the deadliest attack since the first days of the war nearly two years ago.
Ukrainian officials said schools, a maternity hospital, shopping arcades and residential complexes were among the buildings bombed.
The attacks – which also saw a Russian missile pass through Polish airspace – sparked international condemnation and new promises of military support for Ukraine, which has been fighting invading Russian forces since late February 2022.
“Russia today hit us with almost everything it has in its arsenal,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian military estimated that Russia fired 158 missiles and drones at Ukraine, and 114 of them were destroyed.
Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat told AFP that this was a “record number” of missiles and the “largest missile attack” of the war, apart from the first days of continuous bombardment.
Russia attempted to overcome Ukrainian air defenses in most major cities, launching a wave of Shahed attack drones, followed by missiles of many types launched from aircraft and from Russian-controlled territory.
“So far, 30 people have been killed and more than 160 injured as a result of the massive Russian attack on Ukrainian territory in the morning,” Interior Minister Igor Klimenko announced on Telegram.
The Russian army said that it “carried out 50 mass strikes and one large-scale strike” on military facilities in Ukraine during the past week, adding that “all targets were hit.”
At the United Nations, Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzia blamed the casualties on Ukrainian air defense systems, the use of which “led to the death of civilians.”
Nebenzia grabbed a QR code that linked to a video he claimed showed residential buildings being damaged by Ukrainian air defences.
Meanwhile, the United Nations condemned the attacks and said they must stop “immediately.”
“Unfortunately, today’s horrific attacks were only the latest in a series of escalating attacks launched by the Russian Federation,” said UN Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khiari.
“Stop this terrorism”
Poland announced that a Russian missile passed through its airspace.
“Everything indicates that a Russian missile entered Polish airspace… and also left,” said General Wieslaw Kokula, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces.
After speaking with Polish President Andrzej Duda, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance “stands in solidarity” with Poland, adding that “NATO remains vigilant.”
In the face of continuing Russian attacks, Ukraine is urging Western allies to maintain military support.
Andriy Yermak, assistant to the Ukrainian president, said that Kiev needs “more support and strength to stop this terrorism.”
US President Joe Biden called on Congress to overcome its division to approve new aid to Ukraine, after Washington released the final package of weapons under existing agreements that Congress is still renewing.
“Unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and critical air defense systems that Ukraine needs to protect its people,” Biden said.
“Congress must act and act without further delay.”
Britain announced it would send hundreds more air defense missiles to Kiev, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that “we must continue to stand by Ukraine – as long as it takes.”
Maternity ward ‘severely damaged’
The strikes targeted at least six Ukrainian regions, including Kharkiv in the northeast, Lviv in the west, Dnipro in the east, and Odessa in the south.
In the capital, Kiev, seven people were killed, according to city mayor Vitali Klitschko, and damage was caused to the Lukyanievska metro station near the Artyom arms factory, which Russia said it targeted early in the war.
Rescuers worked during the afternoon to extract people from under the rubble of a warehouse in the Shevchenko area, according to the city administration.
The Ministry of Health said a maternity hospital in Dnipro was “severely damaged” but staff and patients were able to take shelter in time. Sergei Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said 12 women were in labor and four newborns were inside when the plane struck.
Lesak also reported that six people were killed and 28 others wounded in raids on a shopping mall, private homes, and administrative buildings.
The governor of the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Oleg Sinigubov, said that the city was subjected to about 20 air strikes, killing three employees of a civilian institution and wounding 11 others.
In Zaporizhya, on the banks of the Dnipro River, state governor Yuri Malashko reported that seven people were killed and 13 others were injured.
In the Odessa region, which has witnessed renewed attacks since the summer, four people were killed.
Strikes on Lviv in western Ukraine are rarer, but the region was not spared on Friday.
The Interior Ministry said one person was killed and 15 others were injured when high-rise buildings and two schools were damaged.
Zelensky said he visited the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, which has become a key battle site since the Ukrainian counterattack failed to break through Russian defensive lines.
He wrote on the Telegram application: “This is one of the most difficult areas on the front line,” attaching a video of him awarding medals to the soldiers there.
“I thank all those on the first line (of the fire) for their service, for this year in which the entire country survived thanks to its soldiers,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
