All the missiles were aimed at capital Kyiv and the surrounding regions, Zelensky said, Reuters reported. President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said that Russia attacked Ukraine using 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles in the overnight strikes on Ukraine.
The strikes that targeted Kyiv and surrounding areas damaged Ukrainian energy infrastructure and a major bridge across the Dnipro River, officials were quoted as saying.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the strikes rocked the city as Russia fired multiple waves of ballistic missiles, several of them hitting the Northern Bridge. Authorities said the strikes damaged homes and non-residential buildings, authorities said. Russia said that it carried out a massive strike on ‘targets in Ukraine’s military-industrial sector’, as well as energy and transport infrastructure in and around Kyiv.
Amid the escalation in the conflict, European nations want Russia to halt its war against Ukraine before entertaining any talk of the Kremlin’s concerns about the continent’s broader security architecture, Bloomberg reported quoting sources. The report also added that the European officials are adamant that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pre-war demands that would effectively roll back NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe are still unacceptable. The strikes also damaged residential buildings, the Northern Bridge and a kindergarten, while disrupting electricity, water and heating supplies in the capital. Other substations were damaged in Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
Earlier reporting noted: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said all 36 missiles were directed at Kyiv and the surrounding region, with energy facilities bearing the brunt of the attacks.
Russian defence ministry said the latest strikes also damaged energy infrastructure in the central Zhytomyr region. Twelve regions, apart from Kyiv, came under attack, leaving nine people injured, including a child, Zelenskyy said. Earlier reporting noted: “Russia is preparing for trilateral talks by launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said, adding that repair and rescue operations were underway wherever the security situation allowed.
Earlier reporting noted: A substation connecting the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central Ukraine was hit in the Kyiv region.
