KYIV (Ukraine): A volley of Russian missiles wounded dozens of people and damaged a children’s hospital on Wednesday, the worst attack on Kyiv in months, Ukrainian officials said, as the country pleaded for Western military aid. AFP journalists in the capital heard several explosions before dawn, and air raid sirens sounded soon after.
Ukraine’s air force said it had downed all 10 missiles targeting the city and the health ministry said 53 people had been wounded, including two children.
Most injuries were caused by “glass shards, household items and the shock wave” as missile debris fell in eastern and southern parts of the city, the ministry added. Wednesday’s strike, which caused the highest number of wounded in months, was the second in a week. In another attack overnight Sunday to Monday, eight missiles headed for the capital were shot down.
“The enemy used ballistic weapons,” the Kyiv City Military Administration said, adding that Russia was “intensifying the missile terror of Kyiv”.
There were also strikes in the southern port of Odesa, where officials said nine Iranian-made Shahed drones had been downed.
On the edge of the port city of Odesa, an AFP journalist saw a large hangar in which trucks and cars had been destroyed. Pieces of the metal roof were lodged in the branches of nearby trees. Inside the hangar, some cars had shrapnel holes, some were burnt out, while others had been crushed by the roof falling.
Some cars parked outside were also damaged. Russia’s defence ministry said the armed forces had destroyed Ukrainian ammunition depots and drone construction sites, but did not elaborate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia “a shameful country that fires rockets at night, hitting residential areas, kindergartens and energy facilities in winter”.
The Kyiv strikes came a day after a massive hacking attack on the country’s top telecoms operator, which Ukrainian officials said might have been carried out by Russian security services. Russian forces have also intensified attacks along the front line in southern and eastern Ukraine in recent days. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia newspaper that “Ukrainian forces are rapidly losing their positions”. – AFP
