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Russian Attacks on Kyiv Kill 12 07/06 06:03
Russia launched waves of missiles and drones at Kyiv early Monday, killing
at least 12 people in an attack that exposed widening gaps in Ukraine's air
defenses, authorities said.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russia launched waves of missiles and drones at Kyiv
early Monday, killing at least 12 people in an attack that exposed widening
gaps in Ukraine's air defenses, authorities said.
All of the ballistic missiles launched by Russia struck their targets,
underscoring Kyiv's need for more Patriot interceptor missiles -- a point
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will likely reiterate at a NATO summit
in Ankara, Turkey, this week. The attack came hours after Zelenskyy warned that
a large-scale attack was imminent.
A further 60 people were wounded, according to Zelenskyy, as emergency
workers combed through rubble looking for survivors at residential high-rises
in two locations that suffered direct hits.
Days earlier, on Thursday, a Russian strike killed 31 people in Kyiv, the
deadliest for the capital this year. Russia's Defense Ministry said the
bombardment was retaliation for Ukraine's recent long-range strikes, which have
caused severe fuel shortages and pressured President Vladimir Putin.
More than four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its
neighbor, Ukraine's advances in drone technology have given it an edge in
recent months, analysts and Western officials say. Strikes on supply routes
behind the front line have stripped the Russian army of momentum on the
battlefield, they say, slowing its advance and driving up the cost.
But Russia is now exploiting a different kind of momentum: vulnerabilities
in Ukraine's air defenses, which remain heavily reliant on the U.S. Patriot
systems to intercept ballistic missiles it can rarely shoot down any other way.
The war in the Middle East has strained the global supply of Patriot
interceptors, already produced in limited numbers -- a shortage now most of all
being felt in Ukraine.
Gaps in Ukraine's air defense
Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight,
targeting mainly Kyiv, and all 29 ballistic missiles struck their targets.
"To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception," air force
spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on national television. "Russians are certainly
using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in
Ukraine and the world."
Ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Zelenskyy said on X that Ukrainian
forces had performed well against drones and cruise missiles but not against
Russian ballistic missiles -- a shortfall he blamed on insufficient interceptor
supplies. He urged U.S. and European partners to leave the summit with strong
decisions to bolster Ukraine's air defense and protect civilian lives.
"As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies' stockpiles, Russia is
only encouraged to keep 'vanquishing' residential buildings. The United States
and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror," he said in a statement
following the attack.
Russia's Defense Ministry said the attack targeted weapons factories in
Kyiv, including sites it said produce drones, sea drones, armored vehicles and
missiles, as well as facilities repairing air defense systems and fuel and
energy infrastructure in the city and surrounding region. The claims could not
be independently verified.
Russia's aerial attacks on Ukraine have repeatedly hit civilian areas. More
than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the war, according to the
United Nations.
"These are residential buildings. Places where people slept and lived their
ordinary lives," said Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's Military Administration,
in a post on Telegram.
A residential building in the Podilskyi district partially collapsed, he
said. In the Darnytsia district, several multistory buildings were damaged and
people were believed to be trapped under the rubble.
Witnesses recount harrowing escape
Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, a resident of Kyiv's Darnytskyi district, said she
began screaming after the first strike, which was followed by a second blast
that blew out the windows in her apartment building.
The lights went out, the smell of burning filled the air and the stairwell
was thick with smoke, she said.
"When we were leaving the building, bodies were lying there," Piatetska
said. "When we got downstairs, cars started exploding, and we came out from
under the rubble straight into the fire."
Halina Ivanivna, 61, said she woke to the sound of the first strike at
around 2 a.m. Moments later, her apartment building began to collapse around
her. "Everything was falling down," she said. Water poured through the building
as smoke filled the air while emergency crews rushed to evacuate residents.
About five minutes after the initial impact, a second strike hit, she said.
Ukrainian attacks in Russia and occupied Crimea
Meanwhile, an energy provider in Russia-occupied Crimea reported a blackout
across the peninsula due to "external impact." The Moscow-appointed head of
Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Ukrainian attacks cut power supplies to
the city early Monday, but it was later restored using backup equipment.
Russia's Yaroslavl region Gov. Mikhail Yavrayev said two people were wounded
in a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of the same name. He said over 70
Ukrainian drones were downed. Yavrayev didn't say if any facilities were
damaged, but Astra online news outlet said the attack targeted an oil refinery,
causing a fire.
Russia's Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 519 Ukrainian drones
overnight.
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