At least 10 dead and 56 injured in a large-scale Russian attack on Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine

BarcelonaOn Wednesday night into Thursday, Russia again attacked Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine with dozens of cruise missiles and drones, a few hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a new large-scale attack. At least 10 people have died and 56 more have been injured, including two children, according to the head of the military administration of the city of Kyiv, Timur Tkachanko, and the mayor, Vitali Klitschko.

The attack has affected thirty points in all districts of the Ukrainian capital, destroyed several residential buildings and caused damage to a hotel in the center. "The enemy is again attacking residential areas and killing civilians. There has been a lot of destruction and a significant number of victims, including children," declared Tkatxenko.

Attacks from all directions

According to The Kyiv Independent, the first explosions occurred before ten o'clock at night local time, it started with missiles and was followed by drones. Many residents of the capital spent the night in metro stations as a shelter. The second phase of the attack began around two in the morning, and the detonations could be heard even from underground shelters. Several residential buildings caught fire and according to Klitxkó a nine-story building caught fire. Among the fatalities are members of rescue teams and other civilians.

Zelensky had warned of the attack a few hours earlier: "Once or twice a week there are large-scale air raids. Today we have worrying news about the preparations for another massive Russian air raid of this type. We have relevant intelligence data." In the areas closest to the front, Russian attacks do not stop: the most serious on Wednesday was an attack with gliding bombs on Kharkiv, the second city in the country, which killed a 15-year-old boy and injured 32 civilians.

Prepared for a massive attack

Ukrainians had spent the last few days preparing for a massive attack, after Russia promised retaliation for Ukraine's drone attacks against Moscow in June. At that time, a large-scale Ukrainian attack brought the drone war to the Russian capital for the first time, took Moscow's oil refinery out of service, and exacerbated fuel shortages across the country. In addition, Ukraine has been intensely attacking infrastructure to supply the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Zelensky has accused Putin of resorting to a campaign of massive ballistic missile attacks against Ukrainian cities to compensate for Russian failures on the battlefield.

Everything points to Russia changing its tactics in attacks against Ukraine: it is launching more ballistic missiles to take advantage of the shortage of American Patriot air defense systems in Kyiv and is focusing on residential areas, civilian infrastructure, and cultural heritage.