Kiev, July 19 (dpa/GNA) – Russia conducted one of its biggest ballistic missile attacks to date on Kiev overnight, killing one person and injuring sixteen, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Dozens of explosions were heard in the city of three million people overnight, including from air defence missiles, according to a reporter on the ground. Zelensky described it as “one of the most massive ballistic attacks on Kiev.”
More than 40 missiles of various types had been fired, most of them aimed at the capital, along with 120 attack drones, he wrote on Telegram.
Several houses and cars had been destroyed, the authorities reported. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that strikes and damage had been reported in several districts, and fires had broken out.
According to Ukrainian air defence figures, 23 missile strikes and 10 drone strikes were registered. A large proportion of the projectiles were said to have been destroyed.
Ukraine has been fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than four years. Kiev has repeatedly warned of dwindling stocks of interceptor missiles for its Patriot air defence systems, which are used to defend against ballistic missile attacks.
“Protection against ballistic missiles is currently a constant and top priority,” Zelensky said. “Interceptor missiles are needed every day.” He called on the country’s allies to deliver the promised missile defence systems. “These deliveries literally mean saved human lives with every massive Russian attack,” he said.
Overall, he said Russia had deployed around 1,450 drones, more than 1,640 glide bombs and 99 missiles and cruise missiles during the past week.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the targets in Kiev had included a large postal logistics centre used to store weapons components and several facilities producing missile parts. It said a centre for storing and distributing components for the production of long-range drones, had been struck in the Kiev region.
These claims could not be independently verified. The ministry in Moscow added that port infrastructure on the Black Sea had been attacked once again. It said military supply storage facilities near Odessa and fuel depots used by the armed forces had been struck. Ukraine, like Russia, does not publish information on damage to military facilities.
GNA