Russian missiles target civilians in Ukrainian capital
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s capital Kiev with missiles, killing a 12-year-old child, injuring many people, including emergency team members, and damaging buildings.
“As a result of the enemy attack, a 12-year-old boy was killed,” Klitschko wrote on Telegram. “Currently, 10 people have been injured. Among them are many paramedics.”
Klitschko said rescuers rescued a mother and her child after the ground floor of a building in the central area was heavily damaged.
He also said that a missile hit the sixth floor of an apartment building in the central Podil district.
Klitschko said that a large fire broke out in a building in a region north of the capital, four emergency medical workers were injured, and debris fell in many places.
Regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha wrote on Telegram that Russian attacks also caused major fires in the southeastern city of Dnipro, injuring five people. Pictures published on the internet showed buildings in flames.
Authorities in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in northeastern Ukraine, said two people were injured in drone attacks.
Russia attacked Ukraine with hundreds of drones and missiles overnight and throughout the day on Wednesday, targeting port infrastructure in the south, killing two people and wounding at least seven, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 324 unmanned aerial vehicles and three ballistic missiles overnight, starting at 18:00 local time on Tuesday. It was stated that air defense units shot down or neutralized 309 UAVs, but missiles and 13 UAVs hit nine points.
An air force report released Wednesday evening said Russian forces then launched 361 drones and 21 missiles in a 13-hour period ending at 10 p.m. In total, 349 drones and 20 missiles were shot down or captured.
Twelve drone strikes and one missile strike were recorded, along with 12 debris falls.
“In the last 24 hours, there have been brutal attacks on Dnipro, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, Chernihiv, Donetsk region and Zaporizhia,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on channel X, adding that cooperation to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense is a priority.
“We need air defense missiles every day; the Russians continue to attack our cities every day.”
On Tuesday, Ukraine and Germany agreed on defense cooperation plans, and Kiev agreed on drone production in Norway.
Drones have played an important role in the four-year war between Kyiv and Moscow. Both sides have devoted resources to developing ways to intercept drones and improve air defenses.
“A new combat model, drone attack units, is being introduced, combining air and ground unmanned systems with infantry in a single integrated system,” the Ministry of Defense said in a short statement on Telegram. he said.
“This approach has already yielded results in the south, where a large area has been liberated since February precisely thanks to the use of these advanced units.”
