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Russian Barrage Kills 16 in Kyiv 08/21 06:08
Russia pounded the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the surrounding region with
scores of missiles and drones in a nighttime aerial attack that lasted for
hours and killed at least 16 people, officials said Thursday.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russia pounded the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the
surrounding region with scores of missiles and drones in a nighttime aerial
attack that lasted for hours and killed at least 16 people, officials said
Thursday.
Moscow's forces have in recent months intensified their ballistic missile
attacks on Kyiv, exploiting Ukraine's chronic shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air
defense interceptors, the sole weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down the
missiles.
Large-scale Russian missile strikes have become a regular occurrence this
summer. Just over two weeks ago, a Russian attack on Kyiv and its surrounding
region killed 17 people, and nine were killed in the city two days before that.
The United Nations said last week that Kyiv was one of the hardest hit cities
in July, with at least 54 civilians killed and 202 injured.
At the same time, Ukraine has shifted the war onto Russian soil through
long-range drone strikes on oil facilities that have caused fuel shortages
across the country. It has also unsettled the Russian public by striking
warehouses of Wildberries, the country's biggest online retailer.
Zelenskyy repeats his appeals for more air defense
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for countries to send more Patriot
interceptors for defense, but international stockpiles are low amid the Iran
war and Kyiv's more than four-year fight against Russia's all-out invasion.
Russia's overnight barrage also included cruise missiles and jet-powered
drones that further strain air defenses, Ukraine's air force said.
Explosions boomed across Kyiv in the dark, but the air force said hits were
recorded at 28 locations across the country. Emergency services said 15 people
were killed in the capital, with another death in the wider Kyiv region. About
40 people were wounded, Zelenskyy said, as air raid warnings lasted until after
dawn.
More than 38,000 people, including over 2,000 children, sheltered in Kyiv's
subway stations overnight, the system's operator said.
"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."
The Russian Defense Ministry said it struck a Kyiv industrial site
manufacturing components for Flamingo cruise missiles. Sites involved in the
production and storage of drones, an ammunition depot and a logistics center
were also hit, it said.
Russia is able to produce more than 200 cruise and ballistic missiles per
month, Ukraine's intelligence agency told news outlet Ukrainska Pravda in
comments published Thursday. It has stockpiled more than 1,100 cruise missiles
and about 130 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, as well as hundreds of missiles of
other types, the agency was quoted as saying.
It was not possible to independently verify the report, and Russian
officials do not routinely answer questions about the country's arsenal.
Ukraine says it struck more Russian oil facilities
Russia and Ukraine have battered each other with drones and missiles as
their armies struggle to gain the upper hand on the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile)
front line.
Ukraine's General Staff said its forces struck an oil refinery in
Nizhnekamsk, in Russia's Tatarstan region, starting a fire, and the
Tamanneftegaz oil terminal in Volna, in Russia's Krasnodar region, where there
was also a blaze. Ukraine has hit both facilities in recent months as part of
its campaign to disrupt Russia's vital oil industry.
Tatarstan leader Rustam Minnikhanov confirmed there had been a "massive
attack" in the region, state news agency Tass reported, citing his press
service. Many of the drones targeted Nizhnekamsk's Zakamsk economic area,
disrupting production at industrial sites and damaging residential buildings,
Tass quoted him as saying.
The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 726 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.
Ukraine's neighbors are on alert
Russia's relentless onslaught has spooked other European countries,
especially those bordering Ukraine, which fear spreading attacks from Moscow.
Amid the attack on Kyiv, the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command
activated its military aviation operations, ground-based air defense systems
and radar reconnaissance. Polish and other NATO military aircraft were deployed
to monitor its airspace, Polish news agency PAP reported.
Romania's Defense Ministry said an unidentified drone crashed and burned in
an uninhabited area near the Ukrainian border. Two Spanish F-18 jets, deployed
on a policing mission in Romania, were scrambled overnight to monitor a group
of "air targets" near the border, the ministry said.
In addition, two Romanian F-16 fighter jets were deployed to destroy a naval
drone seen near a major Black Sea gas project, Romania's acting Defense
Minister Radu Miruta said.
Moldova's Defense Ministry also said its airspace was breached by at least
one drone.
Russia "is increasingly testing the resolve of NATO and its partners,
violating the sovereignty of neighboring states and deliberately expanding the
risks posed by its war far beyond Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii
Sybiha said on social media.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saw a broad threat to the
European Union. "An escalating campaign of threats is underway, unsettling our
citizens and seeking to divide our Union," she said on X.
Explosions shatter windows and screams fill the air
Russia's overnight strikes hit 12 locations across Kyiv's Darnytskyi,
Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, damaging 30 apartment blocks, a
school, a children's hospital and a kindergarten, Zelenskyy said.
Larysa Bondaruk, 60, sat on the ground, holding her cat, Chanel, which had
been rescued by firefighters. With tears in her eyes, she said her neighbor's
grandson had been trapped by the rubble and died. Her apartment was badly
damaged.
"A rocket hit the roof. It was incredibly loud. Immediately, debris and
doors were blown out. There were columns of smoke, columns of fire, screams,
crying and despair," she said. "Two people were killed in our building, but the
rescuers responded quickly and professionally. I am grateful to them for that."
In Solomianskyi district, the top two floors of a nine-story residential
building were destroyed and fires broke out on other floors. People were also
trapped in two residential buildings and a school shelter.
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