Russia hits Kyiv with missiles, drones
West pledges more air defense as assault on Ukraine continues
KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s allies committed to supplying the country with advanced air defense systems as Russian forces attacked the Kyiv region with kamikaze drones and fired missiles at civilian targets elsewhere Thursday as payback for the bombing of a strategic bridge linking Russia with annexed Crimea.
Missile strikes killed at least five people and destroyed an apartment building in the southern city of Mykolaiv, while heavy artillery damaged more than 30 houses, a hospital, a kindergarten and other buildings in the town of Nikopol, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Russia intensified its bombardment of civilian areas in recent weeks as its military lost ground in multiple occupied regions of Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin illegally claimed as Russian territory. Putin’s supporters urged him to escalate the campaign further to punish the invaded country for the Crimea bridge attack.
“We need to protect our sky from the terror of Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskky told international representatives at the Council of Europe, a human rights organization. “If this is done, it will be a fundamental step to end the entire war in the near future.”
Responding to Zelenskyy’s repeated pleas for more effective air defenses, the British government announced it would provide missiles for advanced NASAM anti-aircraft systems that the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The U.K. also is sending hundreds of aerial drones for informationgathering and logistics support, plus 18 howitzer artillery guns.
“These weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attacks and strengthen their overall missile defense alongside the U.S. NASAMS,” U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said.
Other NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels this week promised to supply systems offering mediumto long-range defense against missile attacks.
Germany has delivered the first of four promised IRIS-T air defense systems, while France promised more artillery, anti-aircraft systems and missiles. The Netherlands said it would send missiles, and Canada said it would give about $50 million more in military aid, including winter equipment, drone cameras and satellite communications.
Speaking at a progressive political event in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Russian President Vladimir Putin “and his enablers have made one thing very clear: This war is not only about Ukraine” but rather “a crusade against our way of life and a crusade against what Putin calls the collective West. He means all of us.”
NATO plans to hold a nuclear exercise next week against the backdrop of Putin’s insistence he would use any means necessary to defend Russian territory, including illegally annexed regions of Ukraine. NATO is keeping a wary eye on Russia’s movements, but has seen no change in its nuclear posture. Russia is expected to hold its own nuclear exercises soon.
On the battlefield Thursday in Ukraine, a five-story apartment building in Mykolaiv was hit by an S-300 missile, regional Gov. Vitaliy Kim said, referring to a weapon ordinarily used for targeting military aircraft but that Russia appears to be increasingly using for imprecise ground strikes.
An 11-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of the building after six hours, and rescuers later found the two other people there, bringing the total to three. A fourth person was killed elsewhere in the city, the regional government said.
Residents of Ukraine’s capital region, whose lives had regained some normalcy when the war’s front lines moved east and south months ago, were jolted by air raid sirens multiple times Thursday after the explosive-packed Iran-made drones found their targets.
Ukrainian officials said Iranians were training Russians how to use the Shahed-136 systems.