Russia launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets, officials said Friday, killing at least 24 civilians across the country in what an air force official said was the biggest aerial barrage of the war.
According to Ukraine’s military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the majority of the ballistic and cruise missiles as well as the Shahed-type drones were intercepted by the air force during the night.
In his official Telegram channel, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk declared that it was “the most massive aerial attack” since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The largest attack, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, occurred in November 2022 when Russia fired 96 missiles into Ukraine. The largest of the year was 81 missiles on March 9, according to Air Force records.
Recently, officials and analysts from the West have warned that Russia has reduced the number of cruise missile strikes it has carried out in an apparent attempt to stockpile weapons for large-scale strikes in the upcoming winter, to break the will of the Ukrainian people.
Fighting along the front line is largely bogged down by winter weather after Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive failed to make a significant breakthrough along the roughly 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) line of contact.
Ukrainian officials have urged the country’s Western allies to provide it with more air defenses to protect itself against aerial attacks like Friday’s one. Their appeals have come as signs of war fatigue strain efforts to keep support in place.
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the huge attack should stir the world to further action in support of Ukraine.
“These widespread attacks on Ukraine’s cities show (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will stop at nothing to achieve his aim of eradicating freedom and democracy,” Sunak said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “We must continue to stand with Ukraine — for as long as it takes.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the scale of the attack should wake people up to Ukraine’s continuing needs.
“Today, millions of Ukrainians awoke to the loud sound of explosions,” he wrote on X. “I wish those sounds of explosions in Ukraine could be heard all around the world. In all major capitals, headquarters, and parliaments, which are currently debating further support for Ukraine.”
According to Ukrainian officials, the roughly eighteen-hour assault left at least 130 people injured and an undetermined number buried under debris. Schools, apartment complexes, and maternity hospitals were among the structures in Ukraine that were reportedly damaged.
A house in Boyarka, a city close to Kyiv, caught fire when a downed drone’s debris fell on it.
The mother of Andrii Korobka, 47, who was taken to the hospital due to shock, was reportedly sleeping next to the room where the wreckage landed.
“The war goes on, and it can happen to any house, even if you think yours will never be affected,” Korobka said.
Tetiana Sakhnenko, who lives next door, said neighbors ran with buckets of water to put out the blaze but it spread quickly. “It’s so scary,” she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Kremlin’s forces used a wide variety of weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles.
“Today, Russia uses nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal,” Zelenskyy said on X.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said Russia “apparently launched everything they have,” except for submarine-launched Kalibr missiles, in the attack.
The aerial attack that began Thursday and continued through the night hit six cities, including the capital, Kyiv, and other areas from east to west and north to south Ukraine, according to authorities.
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Reports of deaths and damage came in from across the country.
Five people were killed and 20 injured in the eastern city of Dnipro where four maternity hospital patients were rescued from a fire, officials said.
In Odesa, on the southern coast, falling drone wreckage started a fire at a multi-story residential building, according to the regional head, Oleh Kiper. Two people were killed and 15, including two children, were injured in the course of the Odesa attack, he said.
The mayor of the western city of Lviv, Andrii Sadovyi, said one person was killed and eight injured and three schools and a kindergarten were damaged in a drone attack in the region.
Several dozen missiles were launched towards Kyiv during the night, with more than 30 of them intercepted, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration. The attack started a fire at a warehouse in the capital’s Podil district where five people reportedly were pulled from the rubble. Three people were killed in the capital.
In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the city was subjected to at least three waves of aerial attacks overnight that included S-300 and Kh-21 missile launches. One person was killed and at least nine injured, officials said.
