Ukraine reports major Russian strike overnight (VIDEOS)
Ukrainian officials have claimed that Moscow launched multiple waves of missile and drone strikes on Kiev and other cities across the country overnight. The Russian Ministry of Defense has yet to comment.
Multiple explosions were reported across several districts of Kiev and its suburbs early Friday morning, with mayor Vitaly Klitschko claiming that the Ukrainian air defenses were engaging incoming missiles and drones. The official initially said that debris fell on the territory of non-residential buildings only. He later claimed that at least four people were killed and 20 injured.
Surveillance footage allegedly captured by a CCTV camera somewhere in the Kiev region appeared to show the moment a US-supplied Patriot air defense system attempted to engage an incoming missile with four interceptors before seemingly being hit.
🇷🇺 New footage from Kiev shows U.S.-supplied Patriot PAC-2 and PAC-3 systems launching interceptors amid a Russian Iskander missile strike.Multiple impacts visibly captured on camera despite defensive launches. pic.twitter.com/cxivXJbzpC
Blasts were also reported in the western regions of Ternopol and Lviv, in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk, in Kremenchug in central Ukraine, and elsewhere across the country. Multiple blurred out videos shared across Ukrainian social media appeared to show the aftermath of the strikes, but the exact locations and the facilities targeted were hard to verify.
The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet issued a statement on the incident. Moscow regularly carries out drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian military infrastructure, insisting that its operations do not target civilian facilities – and blaming Kiev for placing its air defenses in densely populated areas.
On Sunday, Ukrainian drones struck multiple Russian airbases in a coordinated assault targeting long-range, nuclear-capable bombers. Moscow said that most of the incoming drones were intercepted, without confirming any irreparable losses or carrying out any immediate military response. Kiev also targeted multiple Russian civilian sites in acts of railway sabotage over the weekend, killing at least seven people and injuring over 120 in what Moscow branded as terrorism.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told his US counterpart Donald Trump in a phone call on Wednesday that Moscow 'will have to respond' to the attack on the Russian nuclear deterrent. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the retaliation would be carried out 'when and how our military deems appropriate.'
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