Russian attack on Ukraine kills at least 14 and traps others in damaged buildings

President Vladimir Putin has stepped up Moscow’s aerial campaign against Ukraine, with Russian forces recently launching a powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for only the third time in the four-year war.

The Russian strategy seeks to take advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles, with international stocks depleted by the Iran war. That has left civilians especially vulnerable to the Russian ballistic missile barrages, even as air defenses stop most of the attack drones.

Kyiv mother and daughter shelter in a bath tub

At least 64 people were wounded in the capital, emergency services said. Kyiv resident Iryna Salikova, 37, spent the night lying in a bath tub for protection with her 3-year-old daughter, as blasts reverberated across the city.

“Our window was broken, a cobblestone flew into the children’s room”, Iryna said, though they weren’t hurt. “Thank God we’re alive. Today we’re alive, today we’re lucky.”

Russia unleashed 73 missiles and 656 drones across Ukraine, according to the country’s air force, with the main targets including Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro, and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed and suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.

Putin seeks to change the narrative of the war

Putin is keen to generate some positive news from the conflict that began with Russia’s invasion of its neighbor and hasn’t gone according to plan.

Western officials and analysts say Ukrainian drones are pinning down Russian troops on the front line, choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine, and disrupting oil facilities deep inside Russia that provide vital revenue for Moscow. That has made the war, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation,” more visible to Russians and increased pressure on Putin.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the military issued a “massive” strike with long-range precision weapons on military-industrial facilities in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnytsk and Sumy regions.

In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, at least eight people were killed and 35 others injured.

Hits of 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones were recorded at at least 38 locations across Ukraine, according to regional authorities. Debris from destroyed drones fell on 15 locations, the air force said.

Man thrown out of Kyiv apartment by blast

At least four people were killed in Kyiv and 63 people were injured, including three children, Ukraine’s state emergency service said in a statement on Telegram. Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged in eight Kyivdistricts.

In the Podilskyi district, there was partial damage to the upper floors of a nine-story building, trapping people under the rubble. Rescue operations were still underway in the early hours of the morning, even as the air raid alert remained in effect.

In the Solomianskyi district, a 20-story building and a 24-story building were damaged.

Olena Dniprovska, 65, and her husband Yevhen, 64, were injured in their apartment in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district during the attack.

“I went out into the corridor with the phone, and before I understood what happened, everything fell on my head, the glass, and the door blew off,” said Dniprovska, dried blood streaked across her face and a bandage wrapped around her chin. “I ran out into the front door and started calling my husband from the room, but he was also blown out by the blast wave.”

“Now I have nowhere to live, the apartment is completely destroyed, no doors, no windows, no balcony. You can step straight from the room out onto the street,” she said.

In Kharkiv, at least 14 people were injured and residential homes, garages and cars were damaged. A two-story residential building and part of a four-story apartment block were also damaged, with people trapped beneath the rubble of the larger building.

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AP reporters Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal contibuted to this story.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Samya Kullab And Vasilisa Stepanenko, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Russian attack on Ukraine kills at least 14 and traps others in damaged buildings

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