Massive Russian strikes kill at least 18 across Ukraine

DE News Desk
KYIV, Ukraine: Russia launched a massive air attack over Ukraine on Friday, killing at least 18 people and wounding over a hundred across the country.
Schools, a maternity hospital, shopping arcades and blocks of flats were among the buildings hit in the barrage, said Ukrainian officials.
The attacks — which also saw a Russian missile passing through Polish airspace — triggered international condemnation and calls for military support to Ukraine, which has been fighting off invading Russian troops for almost two years.
“Today Russia hit us with almost everything it has in its arsenal,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine’s military estimated that Russia had fired 158 missiles and drones on Ukraine and 114 of them had been destroyed.
Air force spokesman 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.
Russia tried to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defences across most major cities, launching a wave of Shahed attack drones followed by missiles of numerous types fired from planes and from Russian-controlled territory.
The police reported “18 civilians killed, 132 wounded” in regions both close and far from the front — a toll that was expected to rise.
Russia’s army said it had “carried out 50 group strikes and one massive strike” on military facilities in Ukraine over the past week, adding that “all targets were hit.”
‘Stop this terror’
Polish authorities reported that a Russian missile passed through their airspace, entering from and then back into Ukraine.
“Everything indicates that a Russian missile entered Polish airspace… It also left,” said General Wieslaw Kukula, chief of the general staff of the Polish armed forces.
After speaking to Polish President Andrzej Duda, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance “stands in solidarity” with Poland, adding: “NATO remains vigilant”.
In the face of sustained Russian assaults, Ukraine is urging Western allies to maintain military support.
Ukraine presidential aide Andriy Yermak said Kyiv needed “more support and strength to stop this terror.”
The US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said the strikes showed “Ukraine needs funding now”, after the United States released its final package of weaponry under existing agreements, which have not yet been renewed by Congress.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declaring “We must continue to stand with Ukraine — for as long as it takes”.
Shortly afterwards, Britain announced it would be delivering hundreds more air defence missiles to Ukraine.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described it as “yet another cowardly and indiscriminate” attack on civilians.