KYIV: Russia fired scores of missiles into Ukraine early on Thursday, targetting the capital Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa in the west and other cities in one of its largest aerial bombardments that sent people rushing to shelters and knocked out power.
“Senseless barbarism. These are the only words that come to mind seeing Russia launch another missile barrage at peaceful Ukrainian cities ahead of New Year,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
Ukraine’s military said it had shot down 54 missiles out of 69 launched by Russia in an assault that began at 7am local time. Air raid sirens rang out across Ukraine and in Kyiv sounded for five hours - one of the longest alarms of the war.
Officials had earlier said more than 120 missiles were fired into Ukraine during the attack.
In Kyiv, Reuters footage showed a team of emergency workers poring through the smouldering wreckage of residential houses destroyed by a blast and smoke trails of missiles lingering in the sky over the capital.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, fire fighters worked to extinguish a large blaze at an electricity station.
In the southern central city of Zaporizhzhia, houses were damaged and a missile left a huge crater.
“I woke up to everything shaking, crumbling. I got up and screamed, ‘Vitia, Vitia (my husband), where are you?’ I ran barefoot on glass. He appeared and glass was falling off him,” said 60-year-old local resident Halyna.
Ukraine’s military said Russia had launched air and sea-based cruise missiles, anti-aircraft guided missiles and S-300 ADMS at energy infrastructure facilities in eastern, central, western and southern regions. The attacks followed an overnight assault by ‘kamikaze’ drones.
Waves of Russian air strikes in recent months targeting energy infrastructure have left millions without power and heating in often freezing temperatures.
“The enemy placed a high stake on this attack, preparing for it for two weeks. Ukrainian air defence forces demonstrated an incredible level of skill and efficiency,” said Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on the Telegram messaging app.
“At the same time, there were hits and damage, in particular to energy facilities. In some areas, emergency shutdowns may be applied to avoid accidents in the networks. Our power engineers are already working to repair everything,” he added.
The latest blitz came hard on the heels of the Kremlin’s rejection of a Ukrainian peace plan, insisting that Kyiv must accept Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
Kyiv authorities said two private houses in Darnytskyi district were damaged by the fragments of downed missiles and a business and a playground were also damaged. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said 16 missiles were shot down and three people injured in the attacks.