Key PointsMore than 30 people have been killed in what Ukrainian officials say is one of Russia’s largest missile strikes.Cities hit included the capital of Kyiv, along with Odesa, Lviv, Kharkiv and Dnipro.Russia has claimed it targeted military infrastructure only, blaming Ukraine’s defence systems for civilian deaths.
Russia has fired one of its biggest missile barrages of the war at Ukraine, killing 31 people, wounding more than 160 and hitting residential buildings in Kyiv, the south and west of the country and a maternity ward in the east, officials say.
NATO member Poland said a Russian missile appeared to have flown into its airspace for 40km before returning to Ukraine under three minutes later.
There was no immediate comment from Russia and NATO said it remained “vigilant”.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said the vast end-of-year air assault showed there should be “no talk of a truce” with the Kremlin at a time when uncertainty hangs over the future of foreign support for Ukraine.
A teacher inspects her classroom that was damaged after a missile attack in Lviv. Source: Getty / Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP
“Today, millions of Ukrainians awoke to the loud sound of explosions. I wish those sounds of explosions in Ukraine could be heard all around the world,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, urging allies to continue with long-term military aid.
In the capital Kyiv at least three people were reported dead and twenty-two confirmed wounded after residential buildings and another uninhabited property were hit, police and other officials said.
Kyiv resident Mariia told Reuters she had been awoken at home by a “horrible sound” and taken shelter in her bathroom.
“It was so frightening. A missile was flying and everything was buzzing, whirring. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to run down to the shelter,” she said. “As I went inside the bathroom, the mirror flew off (the wall).”
The air force said it had shot down 87 cruise missiles and 27 drones out of a total of 158 aerial “targets” fired by Russia.
Army chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said the attack had targeted critical infrastructure and industrial and military facilities.
“Russia attacked with everything it has in its arsenal … Approximately 110 missiles were fired, most of which were shot down,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
“It is obvious that with the stocks of missiles that the aggressor state has, it can and will continue such attacks,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said on Facebook.
Russia says it targeted military infrastructure
Responding to sharp criticism by the United Nations Security Council about the attacks, Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said in a lengthy response that Russia had launched attacks only on military infrastructure in Ukraine and that Ukraine’s air defence systems were responsible for civilian casualties.
The assault was “one of the largest missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and villages” since Russia
, the foreign ministry said.
The Ukrainian president’s office put the death toll at 26 but statements from the various regions indicated at least 31 people had been killed.
Eight people were killed and 13 wounded in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, the governor said. Civilian infrastructure facilities were also struck, he said.
Six people were killed in the central region of Dnipro where missiles struck a shopping centre, a house and a six-storey residential building, the governor said.
Medics and a firefighters work at the site of a damaged apartment building after a Russian missile attack on in Odesa. Source: Getty / Global Images Ukraine
The attack also caused a fire in a maternity ward, he said. Four people were killed in the Black Sea port city of Odesa and at least 22 were wounded, including two children, the regional governor said, reporting hits on residential buildings.
One person was killed in a damaged multi-storey residential building in the city of Lviv and 30 were wounded, the regional governor said.
Three schools and a kindergarten were damaged, the mayor said.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a missile strike damaged a warehouse, an industrial facility, a medical facility and a transport depot, the regional governor said.
Three people were killed and 13 wounded. Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that Ukraine had fired three US-made HARM missiles into the Russian region of Belgorod.
“Three Ukrainian HARM missiles manufactured by the United States were destroyed over the territory of the Belgorod region by air defence systems,” the ministry said.
Russian strikes draw criticism at UN
Russia drew sharp criticism at the UN Security Council on Friday for its attacks, after Kyiv and its supporters called for an urgent meeting of the 15-member body to address the strikes.
Most council members, including the United States, France and Britain, condemned the attacks on Ukraine. China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, did not condemn the attacks and called for a “political solution” to the war in Ukraine.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attacks by Russia on Ukraine, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law, are unacceptable and must end immediately,” Dujarric said.
– With reporting by Reuters
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