Ukraine war: Putin rains cruise and ballistic missiles on Kyiv in major attack

At least one person was killed and three others were injured in Ukrainian shelling in the town of Shebekino in Russia’s Belgorod region, the governor of the region bordering Ukraine said this morning.

“The man died from his wounds on the spot before paramedics arrived,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on Telegram, adding that two wounded people were taken to local hospitals.

The shelling by multiple launch rocket systems also damaged six residential houses and 11 apartment buildings, he said.

Kyiv says its attacks on Russian territory are aimed at undermining Moscow’s war efforts by destroying military, energy and transport infrastructure.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched against its smaller neighbour in 2022.

A Russian military jet crashed during a training flight in North Ossetia, killing two people on board, the defence ministry said Tuesday.

The Sukhoi SU-34 jet crashed “in a mountainous zone” and there was “no damage on the ground”, the ministry said, adding that a technical problem appeared to have caused the crash.

It comes amid an increase in aircraft accidents in Russia, attributed to sanctions imposed on Russia leading to a shortage of necessary parts.

Ukraine’s air defence systems have destroyed all air weapons on their approach to Kyiv, the head of the city’s military administration said this morning.

In a rare large-scale attack which sent all of Ukraine under air-raid alert, Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Kyiv in the early morning, the Ukrainian military said.

Russia used a combination of cruise and ballistic missiles as well as drones in its attack, Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration said, citing preliminary information.

The full scale of the attack was not immediately clear, he added. Witnesses said several blasts that sounded like air defence systems at work were heard in and around Kyiv.

The air raid alerts lasted several hours across all of Ukraine, starting soon after midnight GMT and including regions bordering Nato-member Poland.

Poland has scrambled its aircraft and air forces against Russia’s large-scale missile attacks targeting Ukraine’s central and western parts, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said this morning.

The Polish armed forces described its response as “defensive air activities”.

Warning of increased noise-levels due to Polish and allied aircraft operating in its airspace, it said: “Tonight we are observing the activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, carrying out strikes using cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles of the Shahed type against objects located, among others, in the western territory of Ukraine.”

Poland, which lies on Ukraine’s west, said that the last such “intensified” Russian aggressive activity was recorded on Thursday and Friday night.

“All necessary procedures to ensure the safety of Polish airspace have been launched, and the RSZ Operational Command is monitoring the situation on an ongoing basis,” it said, referring to one of the two command bodies of the Polish Armed Forces.

Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, there have been a number of intrusions into Polish airspace, triggering worry in the European Union and Nato member state and reminding people of how close the war is.

Blasts were heard across Ukraine’s capital Kyiv this morning as Russian forces rained missiles on the war-hit nation, officials said.

Ukraine’s air defence systems are engaged in repelling the strikes, Kyiv’s military administration said on Telegram.

Many explosions were heard in and around Kyiv, according to witnesses.

The attack, coming after several weeks of quiet nights in Kyiv, saw all of Ukraine placed under blaring air raid alerts.

Foreign investment into the Ukrainian economy reached $4.25billion in 2023 despite the war with Russia, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Tuesday.

“The war does not mean an embargo on investment. In 2023, foreign investors committed $4.25billion to the Ukrainian economy, which exceeded the 2016-2017 levels.

“We should continue to increase this figure,” Svyrydenko said.