Ukraine updates: Russia hits Kyiv with heavy missile attack

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed ongoing defense aid with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday.

"I am grateful to the United Kingdom for its substantial and comprehensive aid in bolstering Ukraine's air defense, particularly with radars, advanced anti-drone systems, and missiles," Zelenskyy said on social media.

"We discussed our further defense cooperation, with a particular emphasis on air defense and long-range capabilities," Zelenskyy added.

The two leaders also talked about finalizing the G7 Vilnius Declaration and steps towards a peace process.

Two minehunter ships set for Ukraine will not be allowed to pass through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits controlled by Turkey.

The UK's Royal Navy said last month that it was donating the ships to the Ukrainian Navy to support its maritime defense against Russia.

But NATO member Turkey said the ships would not be allowed to pass into the Black Sea as it would violate an international agreement on wartime passage of the straits.

"Our pertinent allies have been duly apprised that the mine-hunting ships donated to Ukraine by the United Kingdom will not be allowed to pass through the Turkish Straits to the Black Sea as long as the war continues," the Turkish presidency's communications directorate said on X, formerly Twitter.

Turkey triggered the 1936 Montreux Convention in February 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The convention blocks military ships belonging to belligerent parties from passing through the straits.

Ukraine's president and foreign minister have both condemned the overnight air- and missile strikes, and called for more military assistance from partner countries. 

"Another attack by Russian savages. Almost a hundred missiles of various types. At least 70 missiles were shot down. Nearly 60 of them were intercepted in the Kyiv area," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media in English, along with an accompanying video in Ukrainian. 

"Patriot, IRIS-T, and NASAMS — each of these systems has already saved hundreds of lives," he said, referring to more advanced air defense systems donated to Ukraine by NATO members or other allies.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia's "terror" against Ukraine was continuing with attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure. 

"Putin escalates terror against Ukraine. Today was already the second mass missile strike in just four days. Civilian infrastructure has been damaged; people, including children, have been injured and killed," he wrote. 

Kuleba called on the international community to take several steps in response, expedite air defense deliveries to Ukraine, provide Kyiv with drones "of all types," provide long-range 300-kilometer-plus missiles to Ukraine, approve the use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, and "isolate Russian diplomats in relevant capitals and international organizations."

Ukrainian chess grandmaster Pavel Eljanov said that his family's home in Kharkiv was among those hit by Russian bombardment overnight. 

"My mother's apartment in Kharkiv, this morning," Eljanov wrote on social media, sharing an image of the apartment block from within. "All windows are broken in her 9-story building but everybody is alive fortunately. Overall hundreds of buildings are damaged in Kharkiv and Kyiv with many casualties and injured." 

Eljanov, an Olympic champion with Ukraine's national team in 2004 and 2010 who worked with world number 1 Magnus Carlsen early in his career, has often been publicly critical of Russia's invasion. The 41-year-old, a top 10 player in his prime, is currently ranked 32nd in the world.

Kharkiv is Ukraine's second-largest city, located in the northeast of the country not far from the border to Russia. It was one of several towns and cities across Ukraine to report overnight Russian airstrikes. 

Poland said it had dispatched four F-16 fighter jets to its eastern border to protect its airspace after Russia launched strikes on Ukraine.

"In order to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, two pairs of F-16 fighters and an allied air tanker were put into action," the Polish army said in a statement.  

A Russian missile briefly entered Polish airspace last week during a widespread Russian aerial attack on Ukraine. NATO member Poland has been an ally of Kyiv since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russian missiles struck Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens of others, authorities said.

Debris from missiles intercepted by Ukrainian air defense systems fell across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, causing fires in some residential buildings.

"Explosions in the capital," Kyiv Mayor Klitschko announced on Telegram. He said one person had been killed in the city and also referred to extensive damage to residential buildings resulting in power outages and water supply issues. Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said two more people were killed in the Kyiv region.

In Kharkiv, one person was killed and over 40 were injured in multiple strikes that damaged buildings and civilian infrastructure, the head of the city's military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the city was under "massive missile attack."

The Ukrainian air force said more Russian Kindzhal missiles were headed toward Kyiv and other areas to the south and west.

Tuesday's missile barrage, which follows an overnight drone strike, comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed retaliation after Ukraine's strike on the Russian city of Belgorod which killed 24 people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the notion that Moscow is winning the war is wrong in light of heavy losses Russian forces are facing.

In an interview with The Economist magazine, Zelenskyy said, "Thousands, thousands of killed Russian soldiers, nobody even took them away." He was referring to the fighting around the eastern town of Avdiivka.

While the Ukrainian president provided no evidence to prove his claim, Western analysts concur with the view that Russian losses far outweigh its minor gains in Ukraine.

Russia did not respond to Zelenskyy's claims. But earlier, Russian officials said that the West overestimates its losses and underplays Ukrainian death tolls.

The Ukrainian president conceded that his counteroffensive launched in mid-2023 may not have succeeded as intended, but he hailed Ukrainian efforts to counter Russia's blockade of Black Sea ports by exporting grain through a new route.

Zelenskyy said more needed to be done by the world to defend Ukraine, noting waning enthusiasm 22 months into the conflict. He said if Kyiv were to fall to Russia, Moscow would be encouraged to move against other countries.

"Putin feels weakness like an animal, because he is an animal. He senses blood, he senses his strength," Zelenskyy said.

Russian drones attacked Kyiv early on Tuesday as Ukraine's air force scrambled to its defense, officials said.

The debris from one of the drones sparked a fire at a residential building in Desnianskyi, the capital's most populous district, Ukrainian officials added.

There were also air alerts active in multiple other regions, including Chernigiv, Cherkasy, Mykolayiv, Kherson.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on Telegram that loud explosions heard across the city were the air defense systems countering the Russian drones.

Serhiy Popko, Kyiv's military administration chief, announced on Telegram that emergency services were sent to the Holosiivskyi district on the Dnipro's west bank. He added that there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Ukrainian air force also reported that nine Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers had taken off from a northern base.

The last time Ukraine reported Tupolev Tu-95s bombers flying was on December 29, when Russian strikes across the country left 39 people dead.

ss/nm (AFP, Reuters)