Ukraine’s two largest cities came under attack Tuesday from Russian missiles that killed five people and wounded more than 100, officials said, as the war neared its two-year mark and the Kremlin stepped up its winter bombing of urban areas.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Tuesday evening that the attack killed five civilians and injured 127 as air defenses shot down a Russian Kinzhal missile that can fly at 10 times the speed of sound. Kremlin forces are targeting Kyiv, the capital, and the northeastern province of Kharkiv, whose regional capital is also called Kharkiv, authorities said.
There was some confusion over the death toll as Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov initially reported one death there but later said the injured woman was presumed killed and was in a coma. He said 52 people were injured in Kharkhiv.
Air defenses shot down all 10 hypersonic missiles, out of about 100 of various types launched, claimed Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi. It was the most Kinzhals used by Russia in a single attack since the start of the war, said air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat.
The offensive extends a Russian offensive that began Friday with its biggest single attack on Ukraine since the war began, as fighting along a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line has subsided into a bitter skirmish in the middle of winter. At least 41 civilians have been killed since the weekend.
In a nine-story Kyiv apartment building where two people were killed, 48-year-old Inna Luhina was getting ready for work when an explosion shattered her window and she and other family members, including her 80-year-old mother, were attacked. with flying glass.
Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s two largest cities. Global Image of Ukraine via Getty Images
More than 100 survivors gathered at a school set up as a temporary shelter.
Iryna Dzyhil, 55, a resident of the same building, said the explosion threw her and her husband from their chairs, and the subsequent fire trapped them upstairs until emergency crews rescued them through the roof.
“They say they hit military targets, but they hit people, killed our children and our loved ones,” Dzyhil said of Russia.
Russia fired nearly 100 missiles of various types in the attack, Zelenskyy said on X, previously Twitter. He claimed at least 70 were shot down, almost all in the Kyiv area, noting that Western-supplied air defense systems such as Patriots and NASAMS had saved hundreds of lives.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had launched missile and drone attacks on military industrial facilities in and around Kyiv. Depots storing missiles and ammunition supplied by the West were also targeted, he said.
“The goal of the strike has been achieved, all targets have been hit,” he said without further comment.
It is not possible to independently verify any party’s claims.
Zelenskyy said that since Sunday, the Russian military had launched about 170 Shahed drones and dozens of missiles, with most aimed at civilian areas.
The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is an air-launched hypersonic ballistic missile. The Russian military rarely uses such expensive missiles against Ukraine, due to their limited stockpile.
The attack created a quiet morning in Kyiv, with most cafes and restaurants still closed. Many people chose to stay indoors or seek shelter in shelters when loud explosions rocked the city from early morning. Air raid sirens sounded for nearly four hours, and the city’s subway station – which served as a shelter – was packed.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Tuesday evening that the attack killed five civilians and injured 127. Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
After the air force issued a warning about incoming missiles, people wearing pajamas under their coats carried their sleeping bags, mats and pets into the subway station while loud explosions echoed above. At one of the central stations, called the Golden Gates, hundreds of people filled the vast underground area as the train continued to run.
“Maybe today is the scariest because there are so many explosions,” said resident Myroslava Shcherba.
On Saturday, an attack on the Russian border town of Belgorod killed more than two dozen people. Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack and has struck back repeatedly since then.
The Belgorod offensive was one of the deadliest on Russian soil since Moscow’s massive invasion of Ukraine began more than 22 months ago. Russian officials said the death toll rose to 26, including five children, after a fresh salvo of rockets Tuesday.
“Maybe today is the scariest because there are so many explosions,” said resident Myroslava Shcherba. Global Image of Ukraine via Getty Images
An air defense system near Belgorod shot down four missiles fired Tuesday by Ukraine’s Vilkha multiple rocket launchers, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Over the previous 24 hours, Ukraine had carried out at least 50 attacks, including gunfire and explosives from drones, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Cities in western Russia have come under frequent drone attacks since May, although Ukrainian officials have never claimed responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
“They want to scare us and create uncertainty in our country. We will intensify the strike. Not a single crime against our civilian population will go unpunished,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, describing the attack on Belgorod as a “terrorist act.”
He accused Western countries of using Ukraine to try to “put Russia in its place.” Vowing retaliation, he insisted Moscow would only target military infrastructure in Ukraine, but officials in Kyiv reported civilian casualties from daily attacks on apartment buildings, shopping malls and residential areas.
In other developments, Russia’s Defense Ministry said one of its fighter jets accidentally fired a missile over the village of Petropavlovka in southwestern Russia’s Voronezh region Tuesday, damaging six houses but causing no injuries. It said an investigation would determine the cause of the crash but did not say what type of weapon the warplane dropped.
In April, a shell accidentally fired by a Russian warplane caused a loud explosion in Belgorod, damaging several cars and slightly injuring two people.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
