Russian Attacks Leave Five Dead in Ukraine’s Biggest Cities
Russian missiles have hit Ukraine’s biggest cities, leaving at least five dead and dozens hurt, after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to intensify attacks.
A woman was killed and 44 others were hurt in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, according to local officials. In Kyiv, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said two people died and 49 were wounded in a strike on blocks of flats in the Solomianskyi district of the capital. Two more deaths were reported in the broader Kyiv region.
There have been major aerial assaults by both sides in recent days. Russia’s Vladimir Putin vowed that attack would not go unpunished and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said since Sunday alone, Moscow had fired 170 drones and dozens of missiles.
Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday that it had downed 35 drones launched by Russia on Monday night. Russian strategic bombers then followed up the drone strikes with further attacks.
Ukraine’s armed forces said after the drone strikes 99 missiles of various kinds had been fired in a repeat of last Friday’s onslaught, from sea and air. They said 72 cruise and supersonic missiles had been destroyed.
Poland said it had deployed four F-16 fighter jets to secure its airspace in light of Russia’s “long-range aviation activity”. Last Friday Poland said an unidentified object, probably a Russian missile, had entered Polish airspace for several minutes before turning back towards Ukraine.
Kyiv officials said debris from Russia’s attacks had hit high-rise flats, warehouses, supermarkets, and that two people including an elderly woman had been killed by a missile in the Solomianskyi district to the south-west of the centre.
Power and water supplies were cut to several areas of the capital and gas pipelines were damaged in one district.
In a separate development, Russian-installed officials in the occupied city of Donetsk said four people were killed and 13 wounded by Ukrainian shelling on Sunday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Western rhetoric towards the war was beginning to change as they started to realize they could not “destroy” Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky countered these claims in an interview with The Economist, saying Mr Putin’s suggestion that Russia was winning the war was only a “feeling”. He highlighted Russia’s casualty figures in Ukraine, and said the opposing forces had been unable to take a single large city in 2023.
Mr Zelensky also expressed frustration with Kyiv’s Western allies, saying they had lost a sense of urgency.
The mayor of Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, said air defenses had brought down drones in the city, with debris causing a fire. On New Year’s Day, six civilians were killed by Russian strikes in various Ukrainian cities.
It is clear that the situation in Ukraine continues to escalate, and both sides are preparing for further attacks.