Two people were killed and 13 others injured in Kyiv after Russian missiles and drones hit sites in Ukraine overnight, including infrastructure and energy sites, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
The attack in Kyiv set off multiple fires and damaged residential infrastructure, including a kindergarten, according to city officials.
“These strikes were once again directed at our civilian and energy infrastructure,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X.
“Russia is now attempting to create a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine to coincide with winter.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russian missiles and drones had also targeted the energy grid, railroads and homes in Dnipro, Kharkiv and Sumy.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with ‘coalition of the willing’ countries in the U.K. and Mark Rutte, secretary general of NATO, welcomed recent U.S. sanctions on Russia as a way to draw them to the negotiating table.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement on Telegram that the overnight attacks were targeted at enterprises of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and energy infrastructure facilities that support its operations.
Russia’s Defence Ministry separately said that its forces had downed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight, including seven that were flying toward Moscow.
Zelenskyy pleads for Western air defence systems
Large clouds of smoke were seen over Kyiv on Saturday morning as firefighters raced to put out fires across the city.
As of midday, they had localized one fire in a 140,000-square-foot warehouse with the help of two helicopters and had put out a fire in another building.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks highlighted the importance of Patriot air defence systems in protecting Ukrainian cities from Russia’s continuous attacks.
“Since the beginning of this year alone, Russia has launched about 770 ballistic missiles and more than 50 ‘Kinzhal’ missiles at Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
“It is precisely because of such attacks that we pay special attention to Patriot systems — to be able to protect our cities from this horror. It is critical that partners who possess relevant capability implement what we have discussed in recent days,” he wrote in a separate post in English on X.
The Patriot systems have proven effective at destroying Russian ballistic missiles, and Ukraine is currently seeking a contract to buy 25 Patriot air defence systems from the U.S.
“America, Europe and the G7 countries can help ensure that such attacks no longer threaten lives,” Zelenskyy said on X.
Ukraine’s air force downed four of nine missiles and 50 of 62 drones launched in the overnight attacks, it said on Telegram.
The air force reported five direct missile hits and 12 drone hits on 11 sites around the country.
