Ukrainian air defenses early yesterday thwarted an intense Russian air attack on Kyiv, shooting down all 18 missiles aimed at the capital, as European leaders sought new ways to punish Russia for the war.
Loud explosions boomed over Kyiv as the nighttime attack combined Russian missiles launched from the air, sea and land in an apparent attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses.
No casualties were reported as Western-supplied weapons helped fend off the assault.
Photo: Reuters
Russia’s latest attack on Kyiv was “exceptional in its density — the maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest period of time,” said Serhii Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration.
Valentyna Myronets, a 64-year-old Kyiv resident, said she felt “pain, fear, nervousness, restlessness” amid the assaults. “God, we are waiting for victory and when all this is over,” she said.
British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons wrote on Twitter that the barrage was “pretty intense.”
“Bangs and shaking walls are not an easy night,” she wrote.
It was the eighth time this month that Russian air raids had targeted the capital, a clear escalation after weeks of lull and ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. It also came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy concluded a whirlwind European tour to greet Kyiv’s key wartime allies, which spurred an additional tranche of pledged military aid.
Six “Kinzhal” aero-ballistic missiles were launched from MiG-31K aircraft, nine cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and three land-based S-400 cruise missiles targeted the capital, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said in a statement on Telegram.
After the first onslaught, Russia also launched Iranian-made Shahed attack drones and conducted aerial reconnaissance, Ihnat said.
Debris fell across several districts in the capital, starting fires, but no losses were reported, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Sophisticated air defense systems provided by Ukraine’s Western allies, including US-made Patriot missiles, have helped spare Kyiv from the kind of destruction witnessed elsewhere in the country, as Russian forces press on with their tactic of long-range bombardment.
The bolstered air defenses have deterred Russian aircraft from going deep into Ukraine and helped shape the course of the war, military experts say.
Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov cheered the display of defensive prowess, writing on Twitter about “another unbelievable success.”
The barrage came as European leaders yesterday met in Iceland for a two-day summit of the Council of Europe, the continent’s main human rights body. The meeting seeks to set up a way of logging damage in Ukraine caused by the Kremlin’s forces so compensation claims can be lodged against Moscow.
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