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Russia Launches Massive Ukraine Strike 08/27 06:23
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russia bombarded cities across Ukraine with missiles
and drones in an onslaught that began after nightfall Wednesday and continued
into daylight hours Thursday, when explosions echoed around the capital Kyiv
through the morning.
Ukraine is desperately short of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles that
can counter Russia's ballistic missiles, and Moscow's fast-flying jet-powered
drones have brought another challenge in the fifth year since the Russian
army's invasion.
Ukrainian officials say Russia builds up missile stocks and launches major
attacks every few days, hoping to exhaust Ukrainian defenses through the sheer
weight of numbers. In response, Ukraine has hit high-profile targets on Russian
soil as the countries inflict mutual destruction.
Russia says attack targeted war-related facilities
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces carried out a "massive"
overnight strike on targets in nine Ukrainian cities. It described the targets
as military-related, including industrial facilities, oil refineries, logistics
hubs and port infrastructure.
Civilian areas including apartment blocks suffered damage. The barrage
killed a 78-year-old woman in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, with at least
nine people reported wounded elsewhere, Ukrainian officials said.
"Russia continues to invest in missiles and in expanding its war, and that
means more countermeasures are needed," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
said on social media, noting promises earlier this week by European countries
to provide more air defense help.
"It is important that these (measures) are also supplemented by additional
ballistic missile defense packages" through European purchases of weapons from
the United States, he said.
Zelenskyy make official visit to neighbor Moldova
Zelenskyy was due to visit neighboring Moldova on Thursday to mark its
national day commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet
Union. Ukraine announced its independence the same year.
Russia's neighbors in Eastern Europe are concerned its invasion of Ukraine
could trigger a wider conflict, and drones flying into its airspace have fueled
jitters.
Moldova's Ministry of Defense said Thursday that five drones breached its
airspace overnight, but it didn't specify who fired them.
Ukraine's air force said defenses shot down or suppressed seven Russian
ballistic missiles, though it didn't say how they achieved that.
Four districts of Kyiv were hit during the night, damaging residential
blocks, a school building and a medical facility, though no casualties were
reported, city police said.
Russian forces struck industrial facilities as well as energy infrastructure
in Ukraine's central Poltava region, said Vitalii Diakivnych, head of the
Poltava regional military administration.
The southern Odesa region also came under a massive Russian attack lasting
more than seven hours, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional
military administration.
The barrage damaged a 16-story residential building and two educational
facilities as well as a grain elevator, he said. Odesa is a key port for
Ukraine's vital exports of grain and other agricultural products.
Ukraine takes aim at another Russian online retailer
Ukraine has also fired hundreds of long-range drones almost nightly at
targets in Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses shot down
267 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea
of Azov and the Black Sea.
After razing huge warehouses in recent months belonging to Wildberries,
Russia's biggest online retailer, Ukrainian drones are now taking aim at Ozon,
the country's second-largest e-commerce company.
Ozon said its logistics facilities in the cities of Orenburg and Ufa were
attacked but neither of the premises caught fire.
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