By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and Reuters
Russia launched 656 drones and 73 missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to Ukraine’s air force.
Ukrainian authorities say at least 22 people have been killed and dozens wounded in Russian missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, days after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Moscow was preparing for a major offensive.
Russia launched 656 drones and 73 missiles at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday. It said the main targets were the capital city of Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro, and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defence destroyed and suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said six people were killed in the Ukrainian capital and dozens of others, including two children, were injured in the “mass enemy attack”.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine, at least 16 people were killed and 36 others, including children, were injured in Russian attacks, Governor Oleksandr Ganzha said.
Fifteen people, including a child, were wounded in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine said the government had warned Ukrainians about a potential large-scale Russian attack, and many had been sheltering in place.
“Subways and shelters were packed to the brim” from Monday night until about 7am (04:00 GMT) on Tuesday, she said.
While many people were expecting this attack, there was nonetheless “a lot of fear here in the capital over the past several days”, in anticipation of it, MacAlpine said.
This Russian attack marked the “second massive attack on the capital” over the past 10 days, she said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attacks across the country were a sign of Russian desperation, because President Vladimir Putin was bombing civilians since his forces were struggling on the battlefield.
“Putin is a war criminal and loser who has no cards except terror. Moscow is losing on the battlefield. No number of missiles can change this,” Sybiga said in a social media statement.
Zelenskyy used the attack to make a new appeal for military support from the United States.
“Europe needs its own anti-ballistic defence so that this war can finally be brought to an end. And assistance from the United States in supplying missiles for Patriot systems is absolutely necessary,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
Russia’s military said the bombardment targeted Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.
The “massive strike” using “high-precision weapons” was aimed at targets in Kyiv and the regions of Zaporizhia, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk, as well as energy and transport infrastructure used by the Ukrainian military in other regions, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person in Russia’s Kursk region near the border with Ukraine, Governor Alexander Khinshtein said.
Another drone attack sparked a fire at an oil refinery in the southwestern city of Krasnodar, local authorities said on Telegram.
MacAlpine said the exchanges of fire between Russia and Ukraine “really seem to be escalating”.
The sheer number of drones and missiles Russia launched at Ukraine “really underscores Ukraine’s need, as we’ve heard from Zelenskyy lately, for air defence”, she said.
“The biggest area which Ukraine struggles in is intercepting these ballistic missiles”, as it doesn’t have sufficient weaponry to do so, MacAlpine said.
The attacks on Ukraine came after Zelenskyy said on Friday that “we have intelligence information about Russia preparing a new massive strike”, as he called on people to heed safety precautions.
“Please pay attention to air alerts. Protect your lives. Our services are working efficiently and are prepared. The air force and other defenders of our skies will be on duty 24/7, as always.”
The Russian offensive comes as US-led peace efforts to end the war that began in February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, have largely been paused as US President Donald Trump’s administration remains focused on the conflict in the Middle East.
Source: aljazeera.com