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KYIV — Ukrainian officials say at least 30 people died in a massive Russian air attack overnight on December 28-29 that combined hypersonic and other missiles along with drones to hit military and civilian targets all over the country, including the capital, Kyiv, in what appeared to be the biggest bombardment of the 22-month-invasion.
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Air defenses mobilized but casualties were reported in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, and other major cities. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram that 30 people had been killed and more than 160 wounded.
Search-and-rescue efforts were ongoing late on December 29, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in his nightly video message.
More than 100 private houses were destroyed or damaged, 45 high-rise buildings, schools, two churches, hospitals, a maternity hospital, and many commercial and warehouse premises where hit, Zelenskiy said. Nine people were killed and 30 wounded when a warehouse and other buildings were hit in Kyiv.
“It is important that the world reacts to this next manifestation of terror,” he said, referring to Russian forces as “these scum.”
Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian defense officials said the attack was the worst since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The UN Security Council hastily convened to discuss the attack, which Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari called “appalling.”
“Tragically, 2023 is ending as it began — with devastating violence against the people of Ukraine,” he said, and noted that international humanitarian law forbids attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Telegram that Ukraine and three dozen other UN member states had requested the meeting.
In his video message, Zelenskiy praised Ukrainian air-defense soldiers, saying they “did a lot today.”
The Ukrainian armed forces said military sites had also been targeted.
U.S. President Joe Biden said it was the “largest aerial assault on Ukraine since this war began” and said Russia used drones and missiles, including missiles with hypersonic capability, to strike cities and civilian infrastructure all across Ukraine.
He added that unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, “we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air-defense systems Ukraine needs to protect its people.”
He again urged lawmakers to break a deadlock over his $61 billion proposed aid package for Ukraine and “act without any further delay.”
WATCH: A massive Russian air assault — described as the largest bombardment of the war — struck Ukrainian cities overnight on December 28-29.
Zelenskiy said on December 29 that he had visited the town of Avdiyivka in eastern Ukraine, which is under regular attack by Russian forces.
“This is one of the most difficult areas of the front line,” he wrote on Telegram, adding that Ukraine had “survived” in 2023 thanks to soldiers serving on the front.
Also on December 29, Russia accused Ukraine of firing three U.S.-made, air-to-surface missiles into its southern region of Belgorod.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the “three Ukrainian HARM missiles manufactured by the United States were destroyed over the territory of the Belgorod region by air-defense systems.”
Late on December 29, the governor of Belgorod said Russian antiaircraft units downed “several” airborne targets as they approached.
“According to preliminary information, there is one dead and one injured,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
The Ukrainian armed forces posted video on Telegram of what it described as the sky above Belgorod, showing at least one building on fire.
Western allies including the United States have been publicly cautious over the supply of some kinds of weapons that could reach deep inside Russia, and Moscow has repeatedly sought to establish “red lines” in Western support for Kyiv.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the overnight Russian attacks “one of the largest attacks since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine against cities and the population.”
“It was yet another cowardly and indiscriminate targeting of schools, a metro station, and a hospital, resulting in the death of at least 16 people and several wounded,” Borrell added separately. “The EU stands with Ukraine, as long as it takes.”
Ukraine Suffers Largest Russian Air Attack Since Full-Scale Invasion Began
Russia launched its biggest air attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian military said. An unprecedented number of drones and missiles targeted cities across the country, killing at least 16 people and wounding nearly 100.
After news of the overnight air barrages on Ukraine, France accused Russia of a “strategy of terror.”
“Russia is continuing its strategy of terror aimed at destroying Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in order to undermine resilience of the Ukrainian population,” the French Foreign Ministry said. “France will continue to support Ukraine and provide it with the necessary assistance to enable it to exercise its self-defense, in close coordination with its partners.”
Kyiv and many Western leaders have accused Russia of consistently targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for his actions over Ukraine.
Russia denies targeting civilians, despite ample evidence to the contrary documented by the media.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
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