Ukraine was hit by a barrage of missiles and drones overnight Saturday in one of the heaviest Russian attacks it’s seen since the war began.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said four people died and 100 people were injured across the country. In Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, about 30 residential buildings were damaged or destroyed.
“My condolences to the families and loved ones,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on X. “It is very important that our people are supporting one another. I am grateful to each and every person helping those affected. Continued support from our partners is no less important. I am grateful to everyone now expressing words of support. But concrete steps to bolster air defense are also needed — missile deliveries must not stop for a single day.”
Russia hit Ukraine with 600 drones and 90 missiles. This includes the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, which Zelenskyy warned on Saturday would be used by Russia. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv also said on Saturday that it received information about a “potentially significant air attack” on Ukraine.
Residential buildings, schools, civilian infrastructure, a market and a water supply facility were all damaged, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. Emergency-service and police buildings and museums sustained damage as well, representatives of these institutions told The Wall Street Journal. The building where Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry is in took light damage for the first time since World War II, the WSJ wrote.
Search and rescue operations are continuing in Kyiv, where the Foreign Ministry says there may still be people under the rubble.
“Russia continues to wage war not against military targets but against ordinary people. Deliberate attacks on civilians must not become normalised or go unanswered,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said. “Ukraine needs continued support and stronger pressure to stop Russia’s terror and bring a just peace close.”
World leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal, and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, condemned Russia’s attack.
Albania’s foreign minister Ferit Hoxha said the residential complex where Albania’s ambassador to Ukraine lives was struck, “putting his life at serious risk.”
European Union Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the attack showed “the Kremlin’s brutality and disregard for both human life and peace negotiations.”
“Terror against civilians is not strength,” Von de Leyen said. “It’s despair.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry defended its actions, saying it targeted Ukrainian military command centers and was retaliating for strikes on its civilian infrastructure, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Reuters reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to prepare for retaliation after a drone strike on a teacher training college in Russian-controlled Starobilsk killed 18. Moscow says Ukraine hit the college deliberately. Ukraine denies responsibility for the attack, saying it hit an elite drone command unit in the area and followed international humanitarian law.
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