Russia pummels Ukraine with worst air assault since start of war
Waves of Russian attacks on cities across Ukraine have left at least 26 people dead and more than 130 injured, with the overnight onslaught described by Kiev on Friday as the worst aerial bombardment since the start of the war.
Missiles and drones hit cities nationwide, from Lviv in the west and and Kharkiv in the east, to Odessa in the south and the capital Kiev, triggering an air alert across the country.
It was "largest air attack" on Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion almost two years ago, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said.
Among the weapons used in the early hours of Friday morning were Type S-300 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles, various cruise missile and Iranian-make long-range drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Today, Russia used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal," he wrote on social media, adding that a maternity ward, educational institutions, a shopping mall and residential buildings were hit.
Zaluzhnyi said 122 missiles and 36 drones were fired by Russia, with air defences able to intercept over 70% of them. The strikes were carried out in waves from different directions and using strategic bombers.
Before Friday, the highest officially reported number of Russian missiles fired at Ukraine in one day was about 90.
Deaths were reported in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya, Odessa, Lviv and Kiev, where residents took shelter in the city's metro. Power was knocked out in several areas of the country.
In Dnipro, at least five civilians were killed and more than 20 injured, according to the local military administration.
In Lviv, which sits about about about 70 kilometres from the the Polish border, the mayor said a critical infrastructure facility was hit as about 10 Shahed kamikaze drones targeted the western city.
In Odessa, debris from a downed drone caused a fire in a high-rise building.
In the north-eastern region of Sumy, the impact of a missile in the town of Konotop injured several people and damaged an apartment building.
Kiev's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said at least one person had been killed, while 17 injured people were taken to hospitals and four people were pulled from the rubble of a destroyed building.
The Russian Defence Ministry in Moscow only commented on the attack in passing, speaking of a "massive strike with high-precision weapons and drones."
It was carried out against military targets such as arms factories, military airports and weapons depots, the ministry said, adding: "All targeted objects were hit."
Meanwhile, neighbouring Poland was puzzling over an unidentified object that entered its airspace during the Russian assault on neighbouring Ukraine.
The object was discovered in the early hours of the morning and was observed by the air defence system's radio tracking equipment from the moment it entered Polish airspace until the signal disappeared, the armed forces operational command said.
Radio station RMF.fm said police and soldiers were searching for debris near the town of Zamość in the south-east of the country.
Residents of the region close to the Ukrainian border spoke to Polish media about a fast-flying object heading west.
"The object was black, about one to two meters long and flew very low, lower than an aeroplane," a resident of the village of Komarów-Osada told the portal Onet.pl.
In November 2022, a rocket hit a Polish village on the border with Ukraine, killing two civilians. The West believes it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile used to defend against Russian attacks.
