KYIV:
Multiple explosions shook central Kyiv and reverberated across the capital throughout the night as thousands of residents rushed to bomb shelters and underground metro stations.
The attack caused the widest destruction in Kyiv so far this year, and was the deadliest since at least May when 24 people were killed in a strike that brought down an apartment block.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who cut short a visit to Ireland to rush home, said damage had been reported at more than 20 sites across the capital.
“The main strike was directed at Kyiv,” he said. “Air defence supplies for Ukraine are an absolute and critical priority,” he said, urging Ukraine’s allies to maintain contributions to a fund to buy U.S. weapons including Patriot air defence missiles for Ukraine.
Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Yuri Ihnat, the Air Force spokesperson, said the number of ballistic missiles was unusually high and the interception rate for them was low. Ukraine has struggled with shortages of Patriot missiles in recent months.
The Russian Defence Ministry, in a Telegram post, said its “massive attack” using long-range, high-precision air-, land-, sea-launched weapons and drones hit military and energy facilities, as well as airports in Kyiv and other locations.
Moscow said the attacks were retaliation for Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia. Kyiv, which has stepped up strikes in recent weeks on Russia’s domestic fuel supply, said it had hit an oil refinery overnight in the Russian region of Nizhny Novgorod, where the governor reported one person killed in a strike on an industrial facility.
The Kremlin said Russian military commanders briefed President Vladimir Putin about the Russian attacks, adding that Moscow would continue to increase pressure on Ukraine to achieve its war aims.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a day of mourning in Kyiv for Friday. He said that damage was recorded across the entire city of about 3 million people, with some buildings heavily damaged.
Katarina Mathernova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, said that “Russia unleashed hell on Kyiv” overnight, and had struck accommodation used by diplomatic personnel. Diplomats were unharmed, but their belongings were damaged in the fire that engulfed the building, she said.
Emergency services were sifting through the rubble of what used to be a nine-storey building on the left bank of the Dnipro River that bisects the city as the sun rose and fires flared up around it.
City officials said that more than 90 people, including children, paramedics and drivers at an ambulance station, were wounded and that some people were still trapped inside damaged residential buildings.