Ukraine urges increased support as Russia unleashes huge air assault

Russia has unleashed a huge air assault against Ukraine, illustrating Kyiv’s desperate need for additional defence capabilities.

Russia has unleashed a huge air assault against Ukraine, illustrating Kyiv’s desperate need for additional defence capabilities.

A wave of Russian strikes, using drones and several types of missiles, battered Ukrainian cities on Friday in one of the largest and fiercest bombardments in recent months.

With civilian areas across the country hit, Ukrainian officials said the broadside shows the need for increased support from its international partners, which it is struggling to secure.

At least 16 people are reported to have been killed and nearly 100 injured as Russia targeted the capital, Kyiv, the northern city of Kharkiv, the eastern city of Dnipro, Odesa in the south and Lviv in the west.

With the front line largely bogged down in trench warfare, Russia has in recent weeks returned to its tactic from last winter, during which it targeted infrastructure, especially energy and heating, leaving millions of Ukrainians struggling to stay warm.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that the barrage on Friday targeted critical infrastructure. The Ministry of Energy reported that four Ukrainian regions in the north and south were facing power cuts.

Missiles and drones were also reported to have hit numerous civilian sites, including residential buildings. Falling debris caused fires in a residential building and a warehouse in Kyiv and blasts were heard in Lviv, officials said.

A metro station building in Kyiv being used as a shelter was damaged, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app. Twenty-two Russian strikes were recorded in Kharkiv, damaging a hospital, residential buildings and an industrial facility, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.