In what was the fiercest attack since the early days of the conflict nearly two years ago, Russia launched a massive air strike over Ukraine on Friday, leaving at least thirty people dead and over a hundred wounded nationwide.
According to Ukrainian officials, among the structures damaged in the bombardment were schools, a maternity hospital, shopping centres and apartment buildings.
International condemnation of the attacks, which included a Russian missile entering Polish airspace, followed by new pledges of military assistance to Ukraine, which has been fending off Russian invasion forces since late February 2022.
“Today Russia hit us with almost everything it has in its arsenal,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
According to the Ukrainian military, 114 of the 158 missiles and drones that Russia fired on the country were destroyed.
With the exception of the early stages of the war’s continuous bombardment, air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat told AFP that this was “the most massive missile attack” and involved a “record number” of missiles.
Russia launched a barrage of Shahed attack drones and a variety of missiles fired from planes and Russian-controlled territory in an attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defences across the majority of its major cities.
“As of now, 30 people have been killed and more than 160 wounded as a result of Russia’s massive attack on Ukrainian territory in the morning,” Interior Minister Igor Klymenko stated on Telegram.
