Russia launched a blistering ballistic missile attack on Kyiv and its suburbs before dawn on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens more, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow takes advantage of Kyiv’s depleted air defenses.
The attack set off large blazes that filled the skies with smoke as rescue workers raced to find survivors in the rubble.
It was the third major attack on the capital in a week as Ukraine runs desperately low on interceptor missiles for its Patriot batteries, the only reliable defense against Russia’s most sophisticated missiles.
“Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a statement, putting the initial death toll at 17. “It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide antiballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction.”
The Ukrainian Air Force said that they had not intercepted any of the 24 ballistic missiles and four hypersonic missiles that Russia used in the attack. The air force added that, although it had shot down 98 drones, 17 strikes were recorded.
The missiles struck in just a matter of minutes, leaving little time for civilians to seek shelter.
Mr. Zelensky said that the main targets of the attack had been warehouse facilities belonging to civilian businesses. They included a train depot, a brewing company, construction materials warehouses and civilian logistics facilities, he said.
At least eight people were killed at a train facility in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary, local officials said. Three were killed at a sorting center for Nova Poshta, a postal and delivery company, that was destroyed in the attack, according to officials.
“Early reports indicate that bodies have been discovered on the railway platform near the logistics centers that came under attack,” the national railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said in a statement.
Train travel in and out of Kyiv was suspended after the barrage.
Ukraine continued to target facilities in Russia belonging to Wildberries, the country’s largest online retailer, including an overnight attack directed at a warehouse in Tula, about 200 miles from the border.
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