KYIV, AUG 20 (AP): Russia pounded the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the surrounding region with scores of missiles and drones in a nighttime aerial attack that lasted for hours and killed at least 14 people, officials said Thursday.
Moscow’s forces have in recent months intensified their ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, exploiting Ukraine’s chronic shortage of US-made Patriot air defence interceptors, the sole weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for countries to send more Patriot interceptors but international stockpiles are low amid the Iran war and Ukraine’s more than four-year fight against Russia’s all-out invasion.
Russia’s overnight barrage also included cruise missiles and fast-flying jet-powered drones that put further strain on air defences, the Ukrainian air force said.
Explosions boomed across the city in the dark. Kyiv was the primary target, but hits were recorded at 28 locations across the country, according to the air force. About 40 people were wounded, Zelenskyy said, as air raid warnings remained in place until after dawn.
“It was a massive attack,” Zelenskyy said on social media, adding that Russia “had been preparing (it) for a long time, combining different types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, aiming to cause as much damage as possible to civilian infrastructure.”
But the Russian Defence Ministry said the attack struck a Kyiv industrial site manufacturing components for Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missiles. Sites involved in the production and storage of drones, an ammunition depot and a logistics centre were also hit, it said.
Russia and Ukraine have battered each other with drones and missiles as their armies struggle to gain the upper hand on the 1,250-kilometre (780-mile) front line, where huge numbers of drones are pinning down troops.
Ukraine has attempted to shift the war onto Russian soil through long-range drone strikes on oil facilities and other infrastructure.
The Russian Defence Ministry said Thursday morning that air defenses shot down 726 Ukrainian drones overnight over a number of Russian regions, annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov seas, in one of Ukraine’s biggest aerial attacks of the war. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
