In Brief
- An hour-long aerial assault on Ukraine targetted warehouses, ports, and energy and industrial facilities.
- More than four years into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has recently intensified its attacks on the capital.
Russia hammered the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities with missiles and drones early on Thursday, officials said, targeting warehouses, ports, and energy and industrial facilities in an hours-long assault that dragged into the morning.
Commuters in Kyiv streamed to work under the booming sound of air defences firing at jet-powered drones attacking the city in several waves, after an overnight barrage that included an unspecified number of ballistic missiles and 258 drones.
"Overnight, Russia carried out a massive strike against Ukraine, targeting ports, grain storage, energy, industry, and other infrastructure with ballistic and hypersonic missiles and combat drones," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.
Russia has stepped up its air war on Ukraine in recent months, pummelling its cities with larger numbers of ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones amid a critical shortage of air defences.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this week Ukraine had recently received a small batch of the US-made Patriot interceptors capable of downing the fast-moving ballistic missiles, which are notoriously difficult to intercept.
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In a statement on Thursday, Kyiv's air force said Ukrainian forces had downed seven ballistic missiles, one anti-ship cruise missile, and nearly 90 per cent of the drones.
One person was killed and two more injured in a lunchtime attack on a shopping centre in Ukraine's second-biggest city of Kharkiv, said regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Damage across several regions
In Kyiv, debris fell in at least two districts, damaging a school and shattering windows at a healthcare facility, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Two people were injured in a daytime attack, he added.
Two people were wounded outside the capital after strikes damaged warehouses and private homes, the regional governor said. Reuters TV footage showed a big plume of smoke over a warehouse in the region.
In the central Poltava region, air attacks targeted industrial sites and an energy facility, cutting power to seven settlements, its regional governor said.
In Zelenskiy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, a steel-and-mining hub, three people were wounded after a missile strike on an industrial facility there, said governor Oleksandr Hanzha.
Three more people were wounded in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia after strikes on an unspecified production facility, according to regional chief Ivan Fedorov.
In an hours-long attack on the southern Odesa region, infrastructure, an educational facility and a multi-storey building were damaged, officials said. Three people were wounded.
Russia's defence ministry said Moscow had struck steelworks in Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia, an oil refinery in the Poltava region, logistics centres around Kyiv and three ports in the Odesa region.
Six Russian drones also crossed into the air space of neighbouring Moldova, local authorities said, prompting President Maia Sandu to "strongly condemn this intimidation". One of them was found on Moldovan territory.
An overnight drone attack in central Russia damaged a logistics complex belonging to online retailer Ozon, the company said on Thursday, the latest apparent Ukrainian attack on the company over recent days.
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