KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least 18 civilians and wounding 131 others, authorities said Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated Moscow鈥檚 aerial campaign in recent weeks in an apparent bid to take advantage of Ukraine鈥檚 shortage of and persuade an increasingly pessimistic audience at home that Moscow is prevailing in the .
Emergency rescue crews digging through the wreckage of apartment buildings pulled out the bodies of a 3-year-old child as well as those of a woman and her 8-year-old son in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials said.
The attack stretched past dawn, with explosions reverberating across cities. Officials said 12 people were killed in Dnipro and six in Kyiv.
Residents of the capital have been on edge for days after Russia warned last week that and told foreign diplomats to leave. None appeared to heed the call and no embassies immediately reported damage Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for more U.S. and European support, describing the massive overnight attack as 鈥渁n explicit statement by Russia: If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic missiles and other missile strikes, those strikes will continue.鈥�
Putin has stepped up his aerial campaign against Ukraine, with Russian forces recently launching another of their powerful hypersonic Ukraine’s shortage of air defense systems, in part because of depleted the , has left civilians especially vulnerable to ballistic missiles, even as Kyiv’s defenses stop most of Moscow’s drones.
Kyiv mother and daughter shelter in a bathtub
At least 79 people were wounded in the capital, emergency services said. Iryna Salikova, 37, spent the night lying in a bathtub for protection with her 3-year-old daughter, as blasts reverberated across the city.
鈥淥ur window was broken. A cobblestone flew into the children鈥檚 room,鈥� Salikova said, although they weren’t hurt. 鈥淭hank God we鈥檙e alive. Today we鈥檙e alive, today we鈥檙e lucky.鈥�
Russia unleashed 73 missiles and 656 drones across Ukraine, according to the country鈥檚 air force, with the main targets including Kyiv, Dnipro and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed or suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.
Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov proclaimed Wednesday would be a day of mourning for the 12 dead in his city. That announcement came 20 minutes before Filatov said another drone had struck a residential building there about 2:40 p.m.
Putin seeks to change the narrative of the war
Putin is keen to generate some positive news from the conflict that began with Russia鈥檚 February 2022 invasion of its neighbor and hasn鈥檛 gone according to plan.
Western officials and analysts say are pinning down Russian troops on the front line, choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine and disrupting oil facilities deep inside Russia that provide vital revenue for Moscow. That has made the war, which Moscow refers to as a 鈥渟pecial military operation,鈥� more visible to Russians and increased pressure on Putin.
U.S.-led peace efforts have fizzled out as the sides made and after the war in Iran grabbed Washington鈥檚 attention. Zelenskyy accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump but Putin refused.
Russia鈥檚 Defense Ministry said in a statement that Tuesday’s bombardment struck military-industrial facilities in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi and Sumy regions.
Ukraine said residential, energy and civilian infrastructure was hit but did not confirm or comment on damage to any military-related sites.
Putin signaled that Russia won鈥檛 let up its attacks. He said Tuesday that Ukraine鈥檚 May 22 drone attack on a college dormitory in Starobilsk in the Russia-controlled Luhansk region of Ukraine that killed 21 had given the war 鈥渁 whole new dimension.鈥�
Ukraine said the attack in Starobilsk hit a Russian drone pilot training center.
Man hurled from Kyiv apartment by blast
Hits of 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones were recorded in at least 38 locations across Ukraine, according to regional authorities. Debris from destroyed drones fell on 15 locations, the air force said.
At least four people were killed in Kyiv and 79 people were injured, including three children, Ukraine’s state emergency service said. Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged in eight Kyiv districts.
Olena Dniprovska, 65, and her husband Yevhen, 64, were wounded in their apartment in Kyiv鈥檚 Podilskyi district.
鈥淚 went out into the corridor with the phone, and before I understood what happened, everything fell on my head, the glass, and the door blew off,鈥� said Dniprovska, dried blood streaked across her face and a bandage on her chin. 鈥淚 ran out into the front door and started calling my husband from the room, but he was also blown out by the blast wave.鈥�
鈥淣ow I have nowhere to live, the apartment is completely destroyed, no doors, no windows, no balcony. You can step straight from the room out onto the street,鈥� she said.
In Kharkiv, at least 19 people were wounded in residential areas in the past two days 鈥� including 11 on Tuesday, burying some residents in the rubble.
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Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed.
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