KYIV: In one of its biggest missile attacks on Ukraine during the ongoing conflict, Russia on Friday launched 122 missiles and 36 drones against Ukrainian targets, killing 31 civilians, wounding more than 160 others and hitting residential buildings in Kyiv, south and west of the country, officials said.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it had shot down 87 cruise missiles and 27 drones of the total 158 aerial ‘targets’ fired by Russia. The Foreign Ministry said the vast end-of-year air assault showed there should ben “no talk of a truce” with the Kremlin at a time when uncertainty hangs over the future of vital Western support for Kyiv.
A maternity hospital, apartment blocks and schools were among the buildings reported damaged across Ukraine.
The result was “the most massive aerial attack” since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his official Telegram channel.
It topped the previous biggest assault, in November 2022 when Russia launched 96 missiles, and this year’s biggest, with 81 missiles on March 9, according to air force records.