KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s air defenses battled an overnight Russian aerial attack on the capital Kyiv for five hours, officials said Thursday, as missiles and drones again hammered the Ukrainian power grid.
The Kyiv attack injured at least two people, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said. A kindergarten, a gas pipe and around 20 cars were damaged in the city, said the Kyiv Military Administration.
In western Ukraine, the air force said, Russia fired three Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles — one of Russia’s most advanced weapons — “in the direction of” Starokostiantyniv, a city in the Khmelnytskyi region, on Thursday morning. The air force said it could not make further information public, suggesting the missiles were aimed at a sensitive site.
Long-range strikes have been a hallmark of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, now deep in its third year, often hitting civilian areas. Attacks on the electricity network have knocked out around 70% of Ukraine’s energy generation capacity, according to the United Nations, bringing blackouts as winter approaches.
Air defense systems are a critical need for Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to meet President Joe Biden in Washington on Thursday in an effort to ensure continuing U.S. military support for his country.
Energy infrastructure was hit in Ukraine’s western Ivano-Frankivsk region, causing a blackout in parts of the regional capital of the same name, regional Gov. Svitlana Onyshchuk said.
The power grid was also targeted in the southern Mykolaiv region, local authorities said without immediately providing further details.
Russia launched six missiles and 78 Shahed drones at Ukraine overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, Ukraine’s air force said. Defenses destroyed four of the missiles and 66 drones in the air, it said.
In the south, a missile killed a 62-year-old woman in the Odesa region, where homes and cars were damaged, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said.
In the city of Zaporizhzhia, at least 10 people were injured in the overnight attack, including a 14-year-old, said regional governor Ivan Fedorov. He published photographs of houses with their windows blown out and walls riddled with shrapnel. The Emergency Service said 12 residential buildings were damaged in the city and 18 people were evacuated.
Meanwhile, in the northeastern Sumy region ordnance experts defused a 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) glide bomb that landed without exploding next to a bridge over the River Psel.
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