Russia Pounds Ukraine with Missiles, Drones for Second Day in Row, Kyiv Says

Reuters

14:01 JST, August 27, 2024

KYIV (Reuters) – Russia launched several waves of missile and drone attacks overnight targeting Kyiv and other regions, Ukraine’s military said early on Tuesday, a day after Moscow’s biggest such attack of the war.

At least one person was killed when a civilian object was “wiped out” in the central Ukraine city of Kryvyi Rih, regional officials said.

Kyiv region’s air defense systems were deployed several times overnight to repel missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital, the region’s military administration said on Telegram.

Reuters’ witnesses reported at least three rounds of explosions overnight in Kyiv.

On Monday, Russia launched more than 200 missiles and drones, killing at least seven and damaging energy infrastructure in an attack condemned by U.S. President Joe Biden as “outrageous.”

The size of the Tuesday attacks was not immediately known, but Ukraine’s air force said it recorded the launch of several groups of drones and the take-off from Russian airfields of strategic Tu-85 strategic bombers and MiG-31 supersonic interceptor aircraft.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

The Kremlin denies targeting civilians in the war that President Vladimir Putin launched against Russia’s smaller neighbor with a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The Russian defense ministry said that its strikes on Monday hit “all designated targets” in Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure.

Kryvyi Rih, Kyiv and central and eastern regions of Ukraine were under air raid alerts for most of the night, starting at around 2000 GMT on Monday.

Five civilians may be still under the rubble and four were injured as a result of the Russian attack, Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih’s military administration, said on Telegram.

“The news is bad,” Vilkul said.