At least 30 people were killed and over 160 were left injured in the early hours of Friday as Russia launched its largest missile bombardment of the war so far, on Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Lviv.
Russia “used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal”, with homes and a maternity hospital hit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine’s air force said it had never seen so many missiles launched at once, amid a drastic improvement of Russia’s air defences, which were overwhelmed on Friday, the BBC reported.
An Air Force spokesperson said Russia used hypersonic, cruise and ballistic missiles, including X-22 type, which are difficult to intercept, adding: “We’ve never seen so many targets hit simultaneously.”
The air force said 114 of 158 missiles and drones had been shot down.
It’s a level of devastation only caused by a direct missile strike. For months, mostly falling debris caused the damage and loss of life that Ukrainians constantly feared. A bigger threat has now returned.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat told AFP that this was a “record number” of missiles and “the most massive missile attack” of the war, excluding the early days of constant bombardment.
The United Nations (UN) condemned the attacks and said they must stop “immediately”, AFP reported.
“Regrettably, today’s appalling assaults were only the latest in a series of escalating attacks by the Russian Federation,” said UN assistant secretary-general Mohamed Khiari.
Meanwhile, Poland reported that a Russian missile passed through its airspace as Polish armed forces’ Chief of the General Staff General Wieslaw Kukula said: “Everything indicates that a Russian missile entered Polish airspace… It also left.”
In the face of sustained Russian assaults, Ukraine is urging Western allies to maintain military support.
United States President Joe Biden called on Congress to overcome its division to approve new aid for Ukraine, after Washington released its final package of weaponry under existing agreements still to be renewed by Congress.
“Unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defence systems Ukraine needs to protect its people,” Biden said.
“Congress must step up and act without any further delay.”
Britain announced it would send hundreds more air-defence missiles to Kyiv after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that “We must continue to stand with Ukraine — for as long as it takes”.
