Zelensky said that he visited the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine (archive)
Kyiv, Ukraine:
Russia launched an intense air attack on Ukraine on Friday, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than a hundred across the country in the deadliest attack since the early 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 most massive missile attack” of the war, apart from the first days of sustained 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.”
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 continued 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 in a statement.
“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.”
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the attack as “another cowardly and indiscriminate attack” on civilians.
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 building of the Lukyanivska metro station, located near the Artyom weapons factory, which Russia said it targeted early in the war.
Work is still continuing to rescue people trapped under the rubble of the warehouse in the Shevchenko area in the afternoon, according to the city administration.
AFP journalists in Kiev earlier saw firefighters wearing oxygen masks dealing with a fire that broke out in a 3,000-square-meter (32,300-square-foot) warehouse in the northern Podil district.
Damage to civilian facilities has also been reported in other parts of the country.
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 Dnipro in southern Ukraine, the Ministry of Health said a maternity hospital suffered “severe damage” but staff and patients were able to take shelter in time.
Sergei Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, where a shopping mall, private homes and office buildings were hit, said six were killed and 28 wounded.
Lisak said there were 12 women in labor in the maternity hospital and four newborns when it was bombed.
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.
Earlier in the day, an AFP photographer saw firefighters putting out a fire in a high-rise building, smoke rising from a hole in the facade, and the air filled with dust.
Air 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,” and attached a video clip of him in front of a banner bearing the name of the town, giving medals to the soldiers.
“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.)
