Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities leave dead and wounded

KYIV — Russia attacked Ukraine with 41 missiles of different types early Tuesday, with authorities reporting multiple victims in Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Ukrainian air defense forces managed to shoot down 21 of the missiles, including five Iskander-Ms, which are usually very hard to intercept, Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said in a statement.

“It is important to say not all the missiles on a ballistic trajectory reached their targets,” Zaluzhny said.

In Kyiv, one person was killed, 22 were wounded and 13 were hospitalized, Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said in a statement. He added that buildings were damaged in three districts of the Ukrainian capital.

“First, the enemy launched cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers from the Saratov Region, Russia. These rockets entered the capital in two waves. When they were already directly in the airspace of Kyiv, the enemy launched land-based ballistic missiles at the capital. Almost two dozen air targets were hit by air defense forces over Kyiv. But debris caused casualties and destruction,” Popko said.

In Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, five people were killed and more than 48 were injured, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a statement. One section of a residential building was destroyed and people were trapped under the rubble.

“At the moment, as a result of the Russian terrorist attack on Kharkiv, 30 residential buildings were damaged. About a thousand windows were broken and it is  -7C outside,” Terekhov said.

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Synehubov added that Russians launched 12 combined attacks against several residential districts of Kharkiv, using S-300, X—32, and Iskander-M ballistic missiles. Local authorities promised to provide shelter to those who lost their homes.