After a week-long break, Russia launched another massive aerial attack on Ukraine. The main target of the assault was the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv. The Interior Minister said the attack killed at least five civilians and injured dozens. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Air Force says Russia has used 41 missiles of five types as the air defenders destroyed 21 of those.
Combined missile attack
The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine says Russia launched 41 missiles of five different types, including cruise, ballistic, air-guided, and anti-air missiles.
The AF says Russia launched the following missiles:
- 4 S-300/S-400 anti-aircraft guided missiles from Russia’s Belgorod region targeting Kharkiv Oblast;
- 15 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 cruise missiles from six Tu-95MS strategic bombers (launch area: Engels, Russia)
- 8 Kh-22 anti-ship missiles from Tu-22M3 bombers from Russia’s Bryansk and Oryol oblasts in the direction of Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Sumy Oblasts;
- 12 Iskander-M ballistic missiles (launch area: Belgorod and Voronezh oblasts)
- 2 Kh-59 guided missiles from two Su-34 aircraft (launch area: Belgorod Oblasts, Russia).
The ballistic missiles are the most challenging aerial targets for Ukraine’s air defenses. Of all Ukrainian anti-air systems, only the Patriot surface-to-air missile systems can destroy them.
The Ukrainian Air Force says the country’s air defenders destroyed 21 missiles of those 41:
- 15 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 cruise missiles;
- 5 Iskander-M ballistic missiles;
- one X-59 guided missile.
“It is important to note that not all enemy missiles that attacked via ballistic trajectory reached their targets,” the Air Force noted.
Civilian casualties
The Russian January 23 missile attack killed at least five civilians in Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Pavlohrad, and injured at least 40, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
Kharkiv
As of 11:00, the search and rescue operations continued in Kharkiv, where the Russians hit residential areas with S-300 missiles. The State Emergency Service reported that the attack killed at least three and injured 42, including four children, while the first responders rescued 27 people from the rubble.
“The occupiers hit residential high-rise buildings, causing significant damage. An educational institution and other civilian infrastructure were also destroyed. There are people trapped under the rubble,” the Emergency Service reported.
Kyiv
Interior Minister Klymenko reported that several fires broke out in Kyiv due to the missile strike – in the Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi, and Pecherskyi districts. One person was killed. In Kyiv Oblast, rescuers were working in the Bucha district. Two multi-storey buildings, a private house, outbuildings, and cars were damaged. Three people were injured.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a woman reportedly killed in the Russian attack was resuscitated and brought to an intensive care unit:
“As of this hour [10:32], 20 people have been injured in the capital by the Russian missile attack. Of these, 13 have been hospitalized, including three children. One 13-year-old boy and six adult victims were treated on the spot by medics. One woman was resuscitated. She is in a serious condition in the intensive care unit, but she is alive!” Klitschko wrote.
Later the Kyiv City Military Administration said the injury toll in Kyiv rose to 22.
Pavlohrad
The Russian attack killed one civilian in Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and injured another one, according to Klymenko.
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