Russia rains down scores of missiles on Ukraine in fresh assault on cities

Cities across Ukraine have been targeted by a wave of missile strikes, in one of the heaviest bombardments since Russia’s president Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

Russian forces dispatched explosive drones to selected regions before broadening the barrage with air and sea-based cruise missiles “launched from strategic aircraft and ships”, the Ukrainian air force said. Cities from Lviv in the west to Kharkiv in the east were included in the assault.

Ukraine’s military said it had shot down 54 missiles out of 69 launched by Russia. Earlier, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, claimed more than 120 missiles were launched. Power stations and other critical infrastructure were targeted – something which has become a regular feature of Russia’s attacks.

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Explosions were heard in several places including Kyiv, and air raid sirens rang out across the country – for five hours in the capital.

At least three people needed hospital treatment, including a 14-year-old girl, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said, but there were no reports of deaths.

He warned of power cuts in the capital, asking people to stockpile water and to charge their electronic devices.

“Senseless barbarism. These are the only words that come to mind seeing Russia launch another missile barrage at peaceful Ukrainian cities ahead of New Year,” Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Ukraine says its daily bombardment is destroying cities, towns, and the country's power, medical and other infrastructure.

Moscow has attacked power and water supplies almost weekly since October. About 90 per cent of Lviv was without electricity, mayor Andriy Sadovyi wrote on Telegram. Trams were not working, and residents might experience water interruptions, he said. As the latest wave of Russian strikes began, authorities in the Dnipro, Odesa and Kryvyi Rih regions switched off electricity to minimise the damage to critical infrastructure facilities if they were hit.

In Kharkiv, firefighters worked to extinguish a large blaze at an electricity station. In the southern central city of Zaporizhia, houses were damaged and a missile left a huge crater.

A 60-year-old woman told Reuters: “I woke up to everything shaking, crumbling. I got up and screamed, ‘Vitia, Vitia (my husband), where are you?’ I ran barefoot on glass. He appeared and glass was falling off him.”

Meanwhile, Belarus protested to Ukraine’s ambassador after saying it had downed a Ukrainian S-300 air defence missile in a field at around 10am local time, during the barrage. The country’s defence ministry said the missile had come down near the village of Harbacha in the Brest region, some 9 miles (15km) from the border with Ukraine. The military commissar of the Brest region, Oleg Konovalov, played the incident down in a video posted on social media by the state-run BelTA news agency, saying locals had “absolutely nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, these things happen”.

He compared the incident to one in November, when an S-300 believed to have strayed after being fired by Ukrainian air defences landed on the territory of Nato-member Poland, triggering fears of an escalation in the conflict that were rapidly defused.

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Nevertheless, the Ukrainian ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry in Minsk to receive a formal protest. “The Belarussian side views this incident as extremely serious,” spokesperson Anatoly Glaz said. "We demanded that the Ukrainian side conduct a thorough investigation, ... hold those responsible to account and take comprehensive measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.”

A Ukrainian military spokesman in effect acknowledged that the missile was a Ukrainian stray, saying the incident was “nothing strange, a result of air defence” and something that “has happened more than once”.

In Russia, a regional governor said air defences had shot down a drone near the Engels air force base, hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines in Ukraine and home to long-range strategic bombers. Russia says Ukraine has already tried to attack the base twice this month.

After more than 10 months of fighting, Russia and Ukraine are in a battle of attrition. The head of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency told the BBC that the two sides are in deadlock, while Kyiv waits for more advanced weapons from Western allies.

“The situation is just stuck,” Kyrylo Budanov said. “It doesn't move.” He added that Russia appeared “now completely at a dead end” suffering very significant losses, but, Ukrainian forces still lacked resources to move forward in multiple areas.

“We can't defeat them in all directions comprehensively. Neither can they,” he said. “We're very much looking forward to new weapons supplies, and to the arrival of more advanced weapons.”

Earlier this month, the US agreed to give a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine to boost the country’s defences. The US and other allies also pledged to provide energy-related equipment to help Ukraine withstand the attacks on its infrastructure.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday his nation wanted a UN “peace” summit and that Russia must face a war-crimes tribunal before his country directly talked to Moscow.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed that idea on Thursday as “delirious” and “hollow” – with officials having repeatedly stated that any peace deal can only proceed if Kyiv recognises Russia's sovereignty over four regions it illegally annexed from Ukraine in September.

Additional reporting by agencies