In the resumption of hostilities, Russia fired a barrage of cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets early on Friday morning, marking the end of an almost 80-day pause. The air raid in Kyiv lasted for nearly two hours, but air defenses successfully intercepted all of the missiles heading towards the capital, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration. Although some homes in Kyiv suffered damage from “downed enemy targets,” the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said the capital’s armed forces had done an excellent job of protecting civilians.
The Kremlin has often been accused of using its long-range missiles to target civilian areas in Ukraine’s 14-month war indiscriminately. One of the latest Russian attacks was no exception, as it targeted a residential area in the central city of Dnipropetrovsk. A missile hit a nine-story apartment building, reducing the front to rubble and leaving residents scrambling in their wake.
It also struck a warehouse, where at least four people died and others were injured, the Dnipropetrovsk city police department told. Rescue teams were combing through the rubble with sniffer dogs in search of survivors.
Inna Karelin was among those who waited for news of her family’s fate. She stood outside her shattered home, which had been reduced to a shell of its former glory. She repeated the hope that her children, 17-year-old Kyrylo and 11-year-old Sophia, had survived the attack.
The blast in Pavlohrad was the second this week to hit a residential area in Dnipropetrovsk. The first was on Monday when 36 Iranian-made Shahed missiles struck the city, killing at least two. But the city’s Patriot systems, combined with Ukraine’s other air defenses, could deal with most of them – although they are starting to run low on ammunition.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram that the cruise missiles launched overnight were aimed at places where Ukrainian military reserve units were staying before their deployment to the battlefield. However, the Ministry did not offer evidence to support the claim.
A separate announcement by Ukraine’s air force said the country’s anti-aircraft defense destroyed 23 drones and a cruise missile on its way to the target, but it did not specify any damages. The statement came on the same day President Volodymyr Zelensky returned to Kyiv from a four-country tour of Western Europe, during which he secured pledges for more air defense systems, attack drones, and armored vehicles.
