BY NBC NEWS
Russia launched missiles and drones into Ukraine early on Friday, causing damage to houses, schools, and hospitals in what the national authorities referred to as one of the worst aerial bombardments since the conflict began.
Most of the 110 or so missiles launched during the raid, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, were intercepted.
According to Zelenskyy, Russia used “almost everything it has in its arsenal” in the strike, including ballistic and cruise missiles.
The explosions, which left at least 18 people dead and over 130 wounded, startled Ukrainians all across the nation, according to authorities. While prosecutors opened a war crimes inquiry after the bombings, emergency personnel raced to save lives from the debris.
The assaults on Friday occurred only a few days after a Ukrainian strike in Russian-occupied Crimea, during which there were reports of damage to a Russian landing ship.
Early in the morning, NBC News heard tremendous explosions throughout the capital city of Kyiv. According to local police, residential complexes, a metro station, and a commercial center were among the targets. Serhii Popko, the chief of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said that at least four people had died and thirty had been wounded.
Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the area, said that more than 20 missile impacts were confirmed by local officials in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in northeastern Ukraine. The strikes caused damage to warehouses and a transport depot, as well as three fatalities and thirteen injuries.
Authorities in the far-western city of Lviv, where rocket assaults are less common, reported several explosions throughout the morning that caused damage to three schools, a kindergarten, and residential structures. According to municipal mayor Andrii Sadovyy, there was one fatality and fifteen injuries.
Six people died and 28 were wounded in the central city of Dnipro, according to local authorities, who also reported that a maternity facility and a retail mall suffered damage.
According to local officials, drones and missiles struck the southern port of Odesa throughout the course of the night, causing damage to residential structures and a school, in addition to four fatalities and twenty-two injuries.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Friday that it has launched 50 attacks on Ukrainian military sites this week using “precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles.” Regarding the innocent targets that were struck around Ukraine on Friday, they remained silent.
Despite proof of daily civilian losses and whole Ukrainian towns in ruins, Moscow has denied attacking civilian infrastructure throughout the conflict.
An “unidentified air object” was reported to have entered from the direction of Ukraine by NATO member Poland; however, it was not immediately apparent what it was or whether it had landed on Polish soil. Two people were killed when a stray missile hit a Polish hamlet close to the Ukrainian border last year, sparking concerns about the significant intensification of the Kremlin’s campaign.
Since Kyiv’s Western-backed counteroffensive this year has failed to produce significant progress and Ukraine’s allies are beginning to show indications of growing unwillingness to sustain its war effort indefinitely, Moscow has felt on the offensive in the conflict. It has sparked discussions about the potential terms of a truce or possibly a peace deal, even though Kyiv has so far ruled out holding negotiations with Russia.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, posted on X, saying, “Today, millions of Ukrainians awoke to the loud sound of explosions.” “I wish the world could hear the sounds of the explosions in Ukraine.”
He said they represent Russia’s real goal, not its desire to engage in dialogue. He said, “These sounds are what Russia really has to say.”
As Kyiv waits for Congress to approve President Joe Biden’s $61 billion assistance plan, Russian President Vladimir Putin seems more certain than ever about his army, which he claims has been strengthening its positions all the way along the frontline. In the meantime, he has made an effort to advance the idea that support for Ukraine is declining by claiming that Western “freebies” for Kyiv are coming to an end.
On Thursday, his senior diplomat repeated that attitude, claiming that the West is now adopting a different strategy against Ukraine.
According to a translation available on the foreign ministry’s website, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with state media that “there are hints and leaks in the Western media that the West now wants to look for some way out of this situation.”
“They require a means of escaping ‘without losing face,’ or a means of ensuring that you haven’t ‘lost’ your face,” he said. “This is how I see it.”
