Zelensky slams Russia after massive strikes across Ukraine

In one of the biggest airstrikes of the war, Russia launched drone and missile strikes across Ukraine on Friday, leaving at least eighteen people dead and over a hundred injured. According to Ukrainian officials, among the structures damaged in the bombardment were schools, a maternity facility, shopping centres and apartment buildings. “Today Russia hit us with almost everything it has in its arsenal,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Ukraine’s Western allies joined the condemnation of the latest attacks. According to the Ukrainian military, 114 of the 158 missiles and drones that Russia fired against the country were destroyed. With the exception of the early days of continuous bombing, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat told AFP that this was a “record number” and “the most massive missile attack” of the conflict. The United States recently unveiled its last batch of weapons under the terms of the accords, which Congress has not yet extended, prompting Ukraine to call on its allies in the West to continue providing military support. Andriy Yermak, an assistant to the Ukrainian president, stated that Kyiv required “more support and strength to stop this terror”. The strikes, according to US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, demonstrated that “Ukraine needs funding now”. Russia launched a barrage of Shahed attack drones and a variety of missiles fired from planes and Russian-controlled land in an attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defences throughout the majority of its major cities. Officials said that maternity hospitals, malls, and warehouses were among the structures damaged in six different locations. Three dead have been found in a warehouse in the central Shevchenko sector of the city, according to the mayor of the city, Vitali Klitschko. Another warehouse that was around 3,000 square metres (32,300 square feet) in size caught fire in the city’s northern Podil neighbourhood. As firefighters using oxygen masks battled the fire, there was a distinct scent of burning plastic, and a massive column of black smoke rose high into the sky. Sergiy Popko, the head of the military administration in the city, stated that there were thought to be ten individuals trapped beneath the debris. The Artyom armaments facility, which Russia claimed to have targeted early in the conflict, is close to the station. At least six Ukrainian cities were the focus of the attacks on Friday, including Odesa in the south, Dnipro in the east, Lviv in the west, and Kharkiv in the northeast. A maternity hospital in Dnipro was described as “severely damaged” by the health ministry, while the staff and patients had managed to shelter in time. (With agency inputs)