Dozens of Russian missiles rained down over several Ukrainian cities early Thursday in a massive attack.
The Ukrainian military said Russia launched more than 80 missiles of various types overnight and into the morning as far west as Lviv, which has largely been outside the confines of the war. The strikes targeted 10 of Ukraine's 27 regions, Ukrainian President Volydmyr Zelensky said, and many hit residential buildings.
TIMELINE OF RUSSIA'S YEARLONG WAR IN UKRAINE
In Lviv, reports indicated at least five people were killed, while three others died in the Kherson region, another person was killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and two were killed in Donetsk. Strikes were also reported in Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhya, Kirovohrad, and Vinnytsia, according to CNN. Some regions lost electricity temporarily following the strikes.
Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine's armed forces, said the attacks consisted of 28 X-101/X-555 air-launched cruise missiles, 20 Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles, six X-22 air-launched cruise missiles, six X-47 Kinzhal air-launched cruise missiles, eight guided aircraft missiles, including two X-31P and two X-59, 13 S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles, and eight Iranian-made Shahed 136/131 drones. Ukraine was able to destroy 42 missiles and four drones.
“Russians can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do. But that won’t help them. They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done,” Zelensky said on Telegram, while Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called on Ukraine's allies in the West to supply more weapons and institute additional sanctions against Russia.
"The attack is really large scale and for the first time using such different types of missiles. We see that this time as many as six Kinzhal were used. This is an attack like I don't remember seeing before," Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Air Force Command of Ukraine, said on Ukrainian television Thursday.
Russia's Defense Ministry took credit for the barrage, saying it was in retaliation for an attack earlier this month in the Russian Bryansk region, which officials blamed on Ukrainian saboteurs despite their denials.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"High-precision long-range air, sea and land-based weapons, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, hit key elements of Ukraine's military infrastructure, military-industrial complex enterprises, as well as energy facilities that serve them," the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed in a statement. "Unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed, the transfer of reserves and railway transportation of foreign weapons was disrupted, and production facilities for the repair of military equipment and the production of ammunition were disabled."
The Federal Security Service of Russia claimed a small group of "armed Ukrainian nationals who violated the state border" in the Russian region of Bryansk carried out an attack that left two dead, but Ukrainian officials denied involvement.