Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valeryi Zalushnyj had previously spoken of 122 rockets and cruise missiles, as well as 36 drones. Air defense was able to intercept more than 70% of them. The attack was carried out in several waves, from different directions and using strategic bombers.
The targets of the attacks were civil and military infrastructures, as well as industrial facilities. Impacts and damage were reported in Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipro and the capital Kiev. According to media reports, explosions also occurred in Odessa, Khmelnytskyi and Zaporizhia. Night attacks were also reported in the cities of Sumy and Konotop.
AP / Ukrainian Emergency Service firefighters extinguish a burning building in Kiev
Dead and injured
“It has been a long time since we have had so many red enemy targets on our monitors,” Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat said on Ukrainian television on Friday. It was the heaviest air strike against Ukraine to date. The highest officially reported number of Russian missiles fired at Ukraine in one day was over 90.
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Ukraine: How important is international aid?
According to official information from Kiev, at least 31 people were killed and more than 150 were injured in the unprecedented attacks by Russian missiles and drones, Ukrainian authorities announced on Friday. There were deaths in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Odessa and the capital Kiev.
IMAGO/ZUMA Wire/Artur Abramiv A column of smoke visible from afar over Kiev
Also used hypersonic missiles
According to the Ukrainian Air Force spokesman, “practically everything flew from the Russian side, except the Kalibr cruise missiles.” Kinschal hypersonic missiles, S-300 ballistic missiles, several cruise missiles and long-range drones of Iranian design were used. About 18 strategic bombers were in the air.
According to the government, there were power cuts in four Ukrainian regions. The Ministry of Energy announced this Friday morning that the north and south of the country would be affected.
Serious Russian attacks on Ukraine
Russia has carried out the heaviest airstrikes against Ukraine since the start of its war of aggression. The destination was several cities, including the capital Kiev.
Klitschko: Air defense in Kiev on a large scale
According to Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, air defense was in full operation in Kiev. There was a missile warning for the capital and explosions were heard, Klitschko wrote in the morning on the short message service Telegram. The Portal news agency then reported that a multi-story residential building and a warehouse were on fire in Kiev.
Portal/Viacheslav Ratynskyi People seek shelter from airstrikes in Kiev
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on television that 22 airstrikes had been recorded. A hospital, several residential buildings and industrial facilities were hit.
UN emergency meeting requested
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, spoke of the Russian attacks on Friday as a “hateful wave of attacks on residential areas of Ukraine”. EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell condemned the “barbaric” airstrikes. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk was shocked, especially as the attacks also hit civilian targets such as hospitals, schools and kindergartens.
The UN Security Council requested an emergency meeting for Friday, at the instigation of Ukraine and more than 30 partner countries. This emerged from information from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Security Council.
Military aid: Zelensky calls for “joint strength”.
Given the uncertainty of military aid for next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the global community to unite in the fight against Russia's aggression. “Russian terror must be defeated. Terror must always fail. And all of us in the free world must ensure this together,” Zelenskyy said on Thursday in his evening video address just before the end of the year.
Portal/Alina Smutko President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky
Everything must be done to ensure that everyone demonstrates “strength together” in the coming year. Zelenskyy thanked Pope Francis for his wishes for peace in Ukraine and the US for a new military aid package. The US delivered new anti-aircraft missiles, as well as HIMARS-type cruise missiles, artillery shells with calibers of 155 and 105 millimeters and additional armored vehicles.
“Everything we need,” Zelensky said. The day before, in his speech, he highlighted the progress in Ukrainian arms production and set the goal of making his country one of the ten largest arms producers in the world. On Friday, Britain also assured Ukraine of additional weapons: Hundreds of anti-aircraft missiles would be delivered to support Ukraine's defense capabilities, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps wrote on X (Twitter).