- Ukraine said “unprecedented” air attacks had rocked the capital and other cities early on Thursday while a missile strike killed at least one person in Odesa.
Ukraine said Thursday its air defence forces had shot down 29 out of 30 Russian cruise missiles fired overnight, in an attack that targeted Kyiv and other regions.
“The Russian occupiers launched several waves of missile attacks from different directions. A total of 30 sea, air and land-based cruise missiles were launched,” the military said, adding that Ukrainian air defence systems had “destroyed 29 cruise missiles.”
Blasts were also heard in the central-western regions of Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky and Zhytomyr.
Kyiv’s military administration said that “a series of air attacks on Kyiv, unprecedented in their power, intensity and variety, continues”.
In the latest overnight attack, Russia used cruise missiles and reconnaissance drones, it said.
On Tuesday, Ukraine said it had shot down six Kinzhal hypersonic missiles as part of an “exceptionally dense” attack.
Speaking before the all-clear was given, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a fire had broken out in a garage in the Darnytsya area of Kyiv, but added no one had been injured.
The head of Kyiv’s civilian military administration said a heavy missile attack had been launched from Russian strategic bombers over the Caspian Sea.
Serhiy Popko said the attack probably included cruise missiles, adding that Russia had deployed reconnaissance drones over Kyiv after unleashing its wave of air strikes.
He said a second fire had broken out in a non-residential building in Kyiv’s eastern Desnyansky district, but did not give an update on if anyone was hurt.
At least eight people were reportedly killed – including a five-year-old boy near Kherson – and 17 were injured by shelling on Wednesday, as both sides traded accusations of striking civilian areas.