(LONDON) — At least 22 people were killed and more than 130 people injured in a large-scale overnight Russian missile and drone strike on Ukraine, officials said, with the capital Kyiv the main target of Moscow’s latest long-range barrage.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a post to Telegram that the most significant damage was wrought in Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv regions. At least six people were killed in Kyiv and 16 people — including two children — were killed in Dnipro, local Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine’s air force said in a post to Telegram that Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones into the country, of which 40 missiles and 602 drones were intercepted or suppressed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack constituted “a completely transparent statement from Russia: if Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile strikes, these attacks will continue.”
“Europe needs its own anti-ballistic defense so that this war can finally end. And we urgently need help from the United States in supplying missiles for the Patriot systems. We count on the support of our partners and on effective responses to today’s attack,” the president wrote in a post to social media.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that among the buildings damaged by the “large-scale attack” were four medical facilities.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, said in a post to X that the most serious damage in Kyiv was reported in the Podilskyi district, where a Russian strike collapsed a nine-story residential building. “People may still be trapped under the rubble,” Stefanchuk wrote.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post to X that Russia’s latest “horrific attack” showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is a war criminal and loser who has no cards except terror.”
“Moscow is losing on the battlefield. No number of missiles can change this,” Sybiha wrote. “What we can change is Russia’s ability to continue terror. I urge partners to act, not only condemn.”
The foreign minister called on Ukraine’s foreign backers to unlock more European funding for NATO’s PURL program through which Kyiv can obtain more American weapons and ammunition, including anti-missile defenses like the Patriot system.
Sybiha also urged partners to increase investment in Ukraine’s own long-range capabilities, “ramp up pressure on Russia through new sanctions” and advance Ukraine’s European Union membership negotiations.
“Peace efforts will only succeed when they are backed with real pressure on Moscow,” Sybiha said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a post to Telegram that its forces “launched a massive strike with high-precision long-range air, land and sea-based weapons, including hypersonic aeroballistic missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles.”
The strike, it said, targeted “military-industrial,” fuel and transport facilities and military bases in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi and Sumy regions. “The targets of the strike have been achieved, all designated objects have been hit,” the ministry claimed.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said it shot down at least 148 Ukrainian drones overnight into Tuesday morning.
Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, announced temporary flight restrictions at airports in Volgograd, Kaluga, Saratov, Krasnodar and Penza during the overnight Ukrainian attacks.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Yulia Drozd and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
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