Published on •Updated
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was facing a “critical shortage” of air defence missiles from its partners, after at least eight people were killed in the latest barrage of Russian missile and drone strikes on the country overnight on Thursday.
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Four adults and two children aged five and 12 were killed by a ballistic missile that detonated in a house near the central city of Kryvyi Rih.
Eight other people were wounded in the attack, Kryvyi Rih’s defence council reported, warning the death toll may rise.
In Ukraine’s eastern Poltava region, one person was killed in a drone strike on a warehouse, while at least 15 people were wounded in attacks on the western city of Lviv.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russia was “attacking the capital with ballistic weapons” as the capital’s military administration confirmed one person was killed and two others wounded.
“The threat of further attack remains present. Stay in shelters,” Klitschko said early on Thursday, adding there were fires in several districts of the city.
Five other people were reported wounded in attacks in an eastern Kyiv district.
Photos shared by Kyiv’s emergency service on Thursday showed firefighters sifting through rubble from buildings impacted by the strikes.
Zelenskyy warned that delayed or slow deliveries in air defence support were leaving the country more vulnerable to Russian attacks and contributing to civilian deaths and destruction.
“This Russian terror once again proves that protection against the Russian missile threat is the most important task when it comes to saving the lives of our people,” he wrote on X.
“Untimely assistance and delays in the delivery of anti-ballistic missiles lead to this kind of destruction, these kinds of casualties that, unfortunately, we are seeing today.”
Meanwhile, reports in Poland claim that an unidentified object was detected in Polish airspace at about 3:40 am CET, and that helicopter crews discovered a crater near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia after the missile dropped off radar.
Ukraine’s acting Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of “violating NATO airspace”, posting on X, “Overnight, a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crossed into Poland as part of Russia’s massive strike against Ukraine.”
There has been no official response from the Kremlin.
Additional sources • AFP