The Ukrainian capital Kyiv faced a huge barrage of drones and missiles in the early hours of Friday killing three people, Ukrainian officials said. Powerful explosions reverberated across the country, also.
The attacks followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, conveyed via U.S. President Donald Trump, that the Kremlin would hit back after Ukrainian drones destroyed several strategic bomber aircraft in attacks deep inside Russia.
Kyiv’s military administration said three people were killed in the missile and drone salvo againstthe capital. They were first responders who had rushed to the scene of one of the strikes, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
“Overnight, Russia ‘responded’ to its destroyed aircraft… by attacking civilians in Ukraine…. Multi-storey buildings hit. Energy infrastructure damaged,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out the strike on military and military-related targets in response to what it called Ukrainian “terrorist acts” against Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said 49 people nationwide had been injured in the attacks, which also struck several other towns and cities as well as Kyiv, as he called on Ukraine’s Western allies to ramp up pressure on Russia.
The air force said Russia had used 407 drones, one of the largest numbers recorded in a single attack. Forty-five cruise and ballistic missiles were also fired, it said.
Kyiv’s metro transport system was disrupted by a Russian strike that hit and damaged tracks between stations, the military administration said. The state rail company said it was also diverting some trains due to rail damage outside the city.
The Ukrainian military said it had launched a pre-emptive strike overnight on the Engels and Dyagilevo airfields in the Russian regions of Saratov and Ryazan, in addition to striking at least three fuel reservoirs.
In one of the most audacious attacks of the three-year-old war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian spies last weekend destroyed some of Russia’s strategic bomber aircraft on the ground using quadrocopter drones hidden in wooden sheds.
After a phone conversation with Putin on Wednesday, Trump said the Kremlin was planning an unspecified response to the Ukrainian attack on the Russian air bases.
Team BharatShakti
(With Inputs from Reuters)
