Russian missiles hit Ukraine cities again
At least 7 are killed and dozens wounded
Russian missiles struck three Ukrainian cities Tuesday, including its two biggest, killing at least seven people and wrecking apartment buildings after Moscow shunned any deal backed by Kyiv and its Western allies to end the nearly 2-year-old war.
The barrage included more than 40 ballistic, cruise, anti-aircraft and guided missiles, officials said. Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 21 of them.
The attacks keep Ukrainians on edge while the 930-mile front line has barely budged. Both sides’ inability to deliver major gains on the battlefield has pushed the fighting toward trench and artillery warfare. Analysts say Russia stockpiled missiles at the end of last year to press a winter campaign of aerial bombardment.
In Kharkiv, in northeast Ukraine, the onslaught killed six and injured 48, including four minors, as the missiles damaged about 30 residential buildings and shattered hundreds of windows in icy weather, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.
Russia used S-300, Kh32 and hypersonic Iskander missiles in the attack, he said.
An entire section of a multistory residential building was destroyed, trapping an unknown number of people there, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The temperature in the city was minus 19 degrees Fahrenheit, he said.
Kharkiv, about 18 miles from the border, has often felt the brunt of Russia’s winter campaign of longrange strikes that commonly hit civilian areas.
The attack injured at least 20 people in four districts of Kyiv, the capital, including a 13-year-old boy, according to Mayor Vitalii Klitschko. Officials corrected initial reports that a civilian had been killed there, saying the wounded person was hospitalized on life support.
A missile also killed a 43-year-old woman and damaged two schools and eight high-rise buildings in Pavlohrad, an industrial city in the eastern Dnipro region, the country’s presidential office said.
In Balakliia, in the Kharkiv region, an 88-yearold man and a 78-year-old woman were rescued from the rubble of a house after Russian shelling, it said.
In the south, Russia attacked the city of Beryslav with drones, killing a 69-year-old man on a motorcycle.
There appeared to be scant chance of an end to the war anytime soon. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov defied the United States and other Ukraine supporters at a U.N. meeting on Monday, ruling out any peace plan they support.
Lavrov claimed that Ukrainian forces have been “a complete failure” on the battlefield and are “incapable” of defeating Russia.