Vladimir Putin fired a series of ballistic missiles into the Ukrainian capital Kiev overnight, leaving more than 50 injured after debris from the missiles hit homes and a children's hospital.
Around 53 people, including six children aged five, were injured in the bomb attack at 3am this morning.
Ukraine said its air defenses shot down all 10 ballistic missiles fired from Crimea, but the flaming debris from the intercepted missiles hit buildings in the eastern Dniprovskyi district, injuring dozens.
The debris ripped through an apartment building, shattered the windows of a children's hospital and set fire to several cars parked nearby. Twenty people, including two children, were hospitalized as a result of the explosions.
The Russian bombing came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an impassioned appeal to the U.S. Congress for 50.3 billion pounds ($61 billion) in military aid as the counteroffensive falters and supplies of Western weapons dwindle .
Last week, Republicans in the US Senate defiantly voted to block billions of dollars in funding for Ukraine. This was a devastating blow to Zelensky, whose soldiers had been unable to make significant progress against Russian troops for months.
After speaking with Zelensky at the White House last night, President Joe Biden said Putin was betting the U.S. would not deliver to Ukraine and accused Republicans of “turning their backs on the cause of freedom.”
Without vital help from the United States, Ukraine could lose the war and enable Russia to attack NATO allies, Biden warned, which could trigger World War III.
Meanwhile, Zelensky landed in Norway this morning for an unannounced visit to meet with the leaders of the five Nordic countries that are among Ukraine's main donors to the war against Russia.
Employees of Ukraine's State Emergency Service and police work together to rescue a woman from a burning building in Kiev on Wednesday, following recent shelling during Russia's attack on Ukraine
Rescue workers work at the site of a residential building damaged in a Russian missile attack during Russia's attack on Ukraine on Wednesday in Kiev
Rescue workers work at the construction site of a residential building damaged in a Russian missile attack in Kiev on Wednesday
A residential building was set on fire overnight in the rocket attack on Kiev
Biden shakes hands with Zelensky when they meet in the Oval Office on Tuesday
Yesterday, Biden warned that “extreme” Republicans would be “judged harshly” by history for “holding Ukraine's funding hostage” to a deal on increased security at the US border with Mexico.
In the Ukrainian capital, people were awakened by explosions as Putin fired a series of missiles – believed to be Russia's powerful Islander missiles – at Kiev.
Air defense managed to shoot down all ten rockets, but the falling debris damaged a residential building and a children's hospital and left at least 53 injured.
The military administration in the Ukrainian capital said the city had been subjected to “the second high-speed missile attack on Kiev in the last two days.”
“Just like on December 11, the enemy used ballistic weapons,” it said. “The Russians fired rockets around 3 a.m., most likely from the northeast.”
Kiev Mayor Vitali Kitschko said one of the children's hospitals in the Dnipro district was damaged and its windows were smashed.
Kitschko added: “In the Dnipro district, the facade of a residential building was damaged by rocket fragments.” Residents are being evacuated. Fire brigade, rescue services and paramedics are on site.
“Four cars are burning in the courtyard of a residential building. One of the building's balconies is on fire and the building's facade is damaged.
“Rescuers have already brought out 15 people, including four children.” The fire department is putting out the fire. The evacuation of residents continues.
“A one-story residential building burns in the Darnytskyi district. Rescue workers arrived at the scene of the accident. Fragments of a rocket also fell on a private residential building in the Dnipro district.
The mayor said: “A total of 53 people were injured by the enemy's night attack.” Twenty, including two children, were hospitalized.
Separately, footage showed Russia raising its flag over the ruins of Maryinka, a disputed town in the Donetsk region, as it makes progress on the front line.
And a leading Putin propagandist called on Ukrainian troops to surrender to the resurgent Russians.
While Moscow claimed new progress on the battlefield and predicted that any new aid to Kiev would be a “fiasco,” Zelensky told Biden at their White House meeting that “Ukraine can win.”
Rescue workers work at the site of a residential building damaged in a Russian missile attack during Russia's attack on Ukraine on Wednesday in Kiev
Residents gather in Kiev on Wednesday in front of their apartment building that was damaged in a Russian missile attack during Russia's attack on Ukraine
71-year-old Petro Khomyn looks at his apartment that was damaged during a Russian missile attack during Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kiev on Wednesday
Zelensky, wearing a black sweater with a small Ukrainian trident and olive military pants, shook the 81-year-old U.S. leader's hand as they sat in front of a roaring fire in the Oval Office.
“We will stand with you,” Biden told Zelensky, even as the Ukrainian leader’s desperate pleas for Congress to approve $60 billion in new aid for Kiev fell on deaf ears.
“Congress must pass additional funding for Ukraine … before they give (Russian President Vladimir) Putin the biggest Christmas present they can give him,” Biden added.
But Zelensky's attempt to keep Ukraine's main backer on side after the White House warned that funding for Kiev would dry up by the end of the year ran up against the reality of a bitter domestic political divide in the United States.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is in charge of any deal, said his party would not agree to Biden's request for more aid to Kyiv unless Democrats met their demands on immigration and the U.S. border and Mexico.
“What the Biden administration appears to be demanding is billions of additional dollars without adequate oversight, without a clear winning strategy and without the answers that I believe the American people owe,” Johnson told reporters after meeting with Zelensky.
The Kremlin scoffed at the impact of U.S. support and repeated the arguments of some senior Republicans who said continuing the flood of weapons into Ukraine was futile after Kiev's summer counteroffensive stalled.
“It is important for everyone to understand: the tens of billions of dollars that have been pumped into Ukraine have not helped it succeed on the battlefield,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
“The tens of billions of dollars that are being pumped into Ukraine are also heading towards the same fiasco.”
Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky hold a joint press conference in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington DC
Biden and Zelensky enter the room to hold a joint press conference in the Indian Treaty Room
Firefighters work at the site of a home damaged in a Russian missile attack in Kiev on Wednesday
Rescue workers work at the construction site of a residential building that was damaged in a Russian missile attack on Kiev on Wednesday
Russia said it was making further progress on the ground, just as Ukraine's freezing winter worsens and Moscow's airstrikes on Ukraine's cities increase.
“Our units have advanced significantly northeast of Novopokrovka,” said Moscow-appointed head of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky.
Ukraine said Russia had launched a “massive offensive” with armored vehicles in another part of the front near Avdiivka in the east.
In a shock to civilians behind the front lines, Ukraine's main mobile operator said it had been crippled by a “severe hacker attack”.
The US said that Russia was actually paying a very high price for small gains: About 315,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Ukraine since the war began in February 2022.
Russian forces have also lost about 2,200 of the 3,500 tanks they had before the conflict began, according to a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment shared with Congress.
The White House said Russia has suffered more than 13,000 dead and wounded in the East since October alone.
But “Russia appears to believe that a winter military standoff will weaken Western support for Ukraine and ultimately give Russia an advantage despite Russian losses,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
As the United States considers its future Ukraine policy, Kiev's main European ally Poland called for global support.
Polish Prime Minister-designate Donald Tusk called for “full mobilization by the free world and the West in support of Ukraine in this war.”
The message will likely be echoed loudly by Biden in the White House.
Republican senators last week blocked Biden's request for $106 billion in emergency aid, primarily to Ukraine and Israel.
An agreement is being negotiated behind the scenes that would make concessions to Republican demands for tough measures against illegal immigration in return for the Ukraine package.