KYIV, Ukraine: Russia pummelled Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles on Tuesday, killing at least 22 people and reducing buildings to rubble, officials and AFP reporters said.
Authorities in the Ukrainian capital had warned that Russia was preparing the latest in a string of massive deadly strikes that have escalated the four-year-old war and dimmed slim hopes for peace.
Zelensky has asked Trump to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine after a devastating Russian attack.The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones through the night into Tuesday morning, adding that 54 drones and 33 missiles had penetrated its multi-layered air defence system.Sixteen of those killed were in the southeastern city of Dnipro, where a four-storey apartment building collapsed, officials announced. Two children were among the dead, and 42 people were wounded.
Six people were killed in Kyiv, where around 50 people were also wounded, according to the capital´s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
AFP journalists in the capital heard air raid sirens wail before a series of loud explosions that lasted through the night into early on Tuesday sent residents with bags and blankets rushing to shelter in crowded metro stations.
Anastasia, whose residential building was damaged in the attack, said she spent a “loud” and “terrifying” night huddled in her bathroom.
“All the windows were blown out completely; there are no windows at all. It wasn´t just one explosion here all night. The night here was just a nightmare,” she told AFP.
“It was a brutal strike,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a late Tuesday address, warning that Russia may follow up that same night with another assault from the skies.
“Unfortunately, the current level of supplies for our air defence does not allow us to shoot down a significant share of the missiles,” he said, giving a toll of 22 people killed and 130 wounded in Tuesday´s blitz.
“We are preparing additional measures for our counteraction,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader used the attack to make a new appeal for military support from the United States and from Europe.
“All partners together, everyone in Europe, must continue working so that there are (we obtain) missiles for our air defence,” he said.
The French foreign ministry denounced Moscow´s “utter contempt” for peace efforts while the United Nations said Moscow´s “inflammatory rhetoric and escalation of attacks should stop”.
Moscow has bombarded Ukraine almost daily since launching its invasion in February 2022, a war that is now the bloodiest on European soil since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions displaced.
Russia said that it had carried out a huge strike, including with hypersonic missiles, targeting Ukraine´s military-industrial complex.
It denies that its forces target civilians.
Kyiv´s metro service said more than 40,000 residents had sheltered in various underground stations throughout the assault -- the highest number in years.
