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Ukrainian officials say at least 12 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.
Air defenses mobilized but casualties were reported in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, and other major cities, with search-and-rescue efforts continuing.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had used “nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal.”
He said Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhya were among the cities targeted.
Zelenskiy cited “fatalities and injuries” and also reiterated earlier reports that “a maternity ward, educational facilities, [and] a shopping mall” were among the objects struck, in addition to residential buildings and other private homes.
“Today, Russia used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal: ‘Kindzhals,’ S-300s, cruise missiles, and drones. Strategic bombers launched X-101/X-505 missiles,” he said on X, formerly Twitter. “A total of around 110 missiles were fired against Ukraine, with the majority of them being shot down.”
The Ukrainian Air Force command later raised that number, saying its forces had shot down 114 of 158 missiles or drones.
RFE/RL could not independently confirm details of the attacks, but explosions had rocked a number of major cities and debris fell from the skies in many places.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called it a massive air strike that targeted social and critical infrastructure.
The Ukrainian armed forces said military sites had also been targeted.
An air alert was in effect throughout the country early on December 29, with the military urging people to go to shelters.
The Energy Ministry announced later that the attacks were causing power cuts for residents in four regions in the north and south of the country.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said the Russian attacks included hypersonic, cruise, and ballistic missiles that are difficult to intercept, as well as drone strikes, adding that Russia “apparently launched everything they have.”
The Interior Ministry said at least 12 were dead and 75 injured in the bombardments. Other sources put the number of those killed at at least 17.
Later 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.”
RFE/RL could not independently confirm details of the attacks alleged by either side, but explosions had rocked a number of major Ukrainian cities and debris fell from the skies in many of those same places
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” in its neighboring ex-Soviet country.
“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.”
Local officials said four people were killed and more than a dozen hurt when attacks struck a maternity hospital and a shopping center in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. The Health Ministry said another medical facility in Dnipro was also damaged but patients and staff were out of harm’s way.
At least two people were reported killed and 15 more injured in airborne strikes on the city of Odesa, in the south. The regional governor said the objects struck included residential buildings.
Another person was reported killed in the western city of Lviv and others injured, amid reports from the mayor of ongoing explosions.
Air defenses were operating in Kyiv, according to the capital’s military administration, and debris had fallen on the city.
At least one person was killed and 16 others injured in the capital, as first responders tried to extinguish fires and clear debris to locate victims, according to the deputy head of the city’s state administration, Mykola Povoroznyk.
“The search and rescue work is not over yet,” Povoroznyk told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the body of one victim was found in the rubble of a warehouse where at least three others were also injured.
The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said three waves of aerial attacks had hit that city overnight, killing one man and injuring at least 11.
Kyiv and many Western leaders have accused Russia of consistently targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and U.S. President Joe 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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