Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 53 people were injured, including six children, and that buildings were damaged throughout districts in the part of the city lying on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River.
City authorities said that a hospital had been hit by falling debris and an apartment building was evacuated after a fire broke out. And domestic water service was cut off in many parts of Kyiv, indicating that civilian infrastructure had been damaged and may have been a target.
The overnight airstrikes followed a major cyberattack on Tuesday that knocked out Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile phone and internet service provider, cutting off service to more than 24 million subscribers. In some cities, the hacking attack disabled air alert systems, which alert the public to take cover from incoming missiles and drones.
The Wednesday strike on Kyiv also confirmed — if there were any doubt — a White House assessment, released by the National Security on Council on Tuesday, that President Vladimir Putin remains intent on conquering Ukraine and subjugating its people — even after nearly two years of brutal war, with tens of thousands of Russian soldiers killed in battle and many more wounded.
“Russia has once again confirmed its title as a shameful country that releases rockets at night, hitting residential areas, kindergartens and energy facilities in winter,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote Wednesday in a post on the Telegram messaging platform.
“There will be a response to all this — undoubtedly,” Zelensky added.
Russian forces now occupy about one-fifth of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, including Crimea, which Moscow invaded and illegally annexed in 2014. Putin’s troops, however, have made virtually no gains this year after being pushed back in the northeast Kharkiv region and the southern Kherson region in fall 2022.
But with a stalemate largely settling in on much of the nearly frozen battlefield, Ukraine faces daunting challenges. In Washington, some Republicans have been blocking President Biden’s push for an additional $60 billion in aid for Ukraine — money that is critical if the country hopes to sustain its defenses.
On Tuesday, Zelensky was in Washington where he met President Biden and members of Congress but failed to achieve any breakthrough on the stalled military and economic assistance.
Wednesday’s attack marked the second time in recent days that Moscow’s forces have unleashed multiple ballistic missiles against the Ukrainian capital, possibly marking a change in strategy by the Russian military, which previously had depended largely on cruise missiles and explosive drones to target Kyiv.
Ballistic missiles can cost millions of dollars to manufacture — far more expensive than drones, which often cost mere thousands. Ballistic missiles can be more effective than drones and conventional cruise missiles, however, due to their speed and trajectory, as air defenses have a harder time detecting and shooting them down.
In his post on Wednesday, Zelensky emphasized the need for additional air defenses for Ukraine, to counter Russian attacks against Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure this winter.
“Just yesterday, President Biden and I agreed to work on increasing the number of air defense systems in Ukraine,” Zelensky wrote. “The terrorist country demonstrated how important this decision is.”
