At least 18 people were killed and over 100 injured in massive Russian air strikes across Ukraine overnight, DPA reported, citing Ukrainian authorities, BTA reports.
Russia has launched a series of attacks on several regions in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in "Ex", citing the Ukrainian Air Force. He pointed out that Russian forces had used nearly 700 drones yesterday and last night. During the night, 19 ballistic missiles and cruise missiles were also fired, he said, with the majority of the ballistic weapons aimed at the capital, Kiev.
"Russia is betting on war and the response must be exactly that: we must protect human lives with all available means and we must also apply pressure for peace with all our might", Zelensky wrote.
The attacks followed the announcement earlier this week of new agreements to provide military aid to Ukraine.
Zelensky thanked Germany, Norway and Italy for agreements to support Ukraine's air defenses and said Kiev was also working with the Netherlands to secure additional supplies.
The port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine was hit hard, with the city's military administration chief Serhiy Lysak reporting at least nine dead and 23 wounded in several waves of missile attacks. and drone attacks. The strikes also damaged critical infrastructure, the port and residential buildings.
In Kiev, the prosecutor's office said four people, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed and at least 54 others were injured in the bombings. Apartment blocks, houses, a hotel, an office building, a car dealership, a gas station and a shopping mall were damaged, the statement said.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents to stay in shelters as the city came under a series of attacks.
Journalists for the "Kyiv Independent" reported multiple explosions amid rocket attacks on the Ukrainian capital.
Emergency services rescued a child from the rubble of an apartment block damaged in the strikes. The child and his mother are receiving medical attention.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, four people were killed and 34 were injured in Russian drone, artillery and missile attacks, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Khanzha, said.
In the Kharkiv region, Governor Oleg Sinegubov reported one death and six injuries in the town of Merefa as a result of drone strikes.
European Council President Antonio Costa accused Moscow of targeting the first responders to the scene of the attacks. "Russian armed forces deliberately launched repeated strikes on Ukrainian emergency services just as emergency services were arriving to save lives," Costa wrote in "Ex". "Russia's military aggression against Ukraine has failed, and that is why it chooses to deliberately terrorize peaceful citizens," he stressed, adding that "Russia must stop this war of terror." In Russia's Krasnodar region on the Black Sea coast, Governor Veniamin Kondratiev reported the deaths of two children, ages 5 and 14, in Ukrainian drone attacks. He said seven people were injured in the strikes.
A state of emergency has been declared in the Tuapse region.
Drone debris damaged residential buildings, two educational institutions and a music school, and also fell on the territory of a factory in the port area, Kondratiev said.
He said drone debris also caused a fire on a civilian ship in Novorossiysk, but added that it was quickly extinguished.
The ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse are the most important for Russian oil exports to the Black Sea. Tuapse is also home to a large oil refinery.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow said it had repelled more than 200 Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian targets. It described the Russian attacks on Ukraine as a response to "terrorist attacks" by Kiev.
The Russian Defense Ministry specified that the missile and drone strikes were directed against a Ukrainian container terminal, armored vehicle warehouses and underground complexes used for testing robotics.
The claims could not be independently verified, DPA notes.
Kiev's allies confirmed their continued support for Ukraine yesterday during a meeting in Berlin of the Contact Group for Providing Defense Assistance to Ukraine, known as the "Ramstein" Group.
The UK has promised to provide Ukraine with 120,000 drones and $1 billion in aid to fight Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry has responded with sharp criticism and published the addresses of arms companies located in Europe.