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Russia fired 44 missiles and more than 400 drones across Ukraine overnight in the most significant attack since a Ukrainian raid destroyed more than a dozen Russian strategic bombers thousands of kilometres from the frontline.
“There were ballistic missiles, cruise missiles launched from the air and the ground as well as attack drones” Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian air force, said on national television on Friday.
“About 30 missiles were destroyed and up to 200 drones were shot down” he added.
The air raid alert, which first sounded at 1am, was lifted about four hours later in Kyiv, with the assault lasting until the morning in western and eastern Ukraine.
Three first responders were killed in Kyiv while working at the site of one of the strikes, Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Friday morning.
More than 40 people were also injured across the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
“We’ve done a lot together with the world to enable Ukraine to defend itself,” he said. “But now is exactly the moment when America, Europe, and everyone around the world can stop this war together by pressuring Russia.”
The attack came five days after a daring Ukrainian operation destroyed at least 12 Russian bombers across four airfields. More than 100 drones hidden in trucks hit the air bases.
Russian President Vladimir Putin later told US President Donald Trump that Moscow would respond to the Ukrainian raid.
On Friday, nearly 40,000 people were left without electricity after several Iskander ballistic missiles and drones hit the city of Chernihiv, 80km from the Russian border.
In Kyiv, explosions rocked the city for several hours overnight as Ukrainian air defence worked to repel the attack. Videos on social media showed at least one building in the capital engulfed in flames.
City officials reported that debris from a drone had also damaged a residential high-rise building. “There is a fire, rescuers are heading to the scene,” Timur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv military administration, wrote on social media.