11 people killed in a Russian missile strike in Ukraine

By Republic Aeon Web Desk: Russia hit Ukraine on Thursday with a wave of missile and drone attacks that killed at least 11 people and damaged dozens of buildings and power plants in many areas, officials said.

Crowds crouched for cover in a Kyiv metro station as rush hour airstrike sirens sounded before Russia unleashed its latest campaign of attacks on its power grid since October.
The missile strike followed a drone strike on the night after Ukraine received main battle tank pledges from Germany and the United States to upgrade its military — a move that enraged Russian officials.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram message that "another attempt by a terrorist state to scare us with a major missile strike was recently repelled, just as all of Russia will soon be defeated."

Ukraine's Supreme Military Commander, General Valery Zalzhny, said the air defense system had at least one of his Kh-47s, including his Kinzhal hypersonic missile, of which he shot down 47 of the 55 missiles. said he did. A 55-year-old man was killed and two others injured when 20 rockets were fired near Kyiv.

Zelensky said he met with the top commander on Thursday to discuss how to more effectively counter future missile attacks but did not give details. Russia has denied targeting civilians in its so-called "special military operations" in Ukraine but said critical infrastructure is a legitimate military target.

“This is such a tragedy for me., said "There was a very loud bang and I jumped up. I was in my bedroom … I was saved by the fact that my bedroom was on the other side of the house," she said.

Oleksandr Khorunzhyi, the spokesman for the National Emergency Service, said Thursday's attack killed 11 people, injured 11 others, and damaged 35 buildings in 11 districts.

In a separate statement, authorities said one person was killed in the Krivi Ri region, two in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, and three in the Zaporizhia region. A power worker also died.

The military said it shot down all 24 drones that Russia had unleashed overnight. Fifteen of them were crushed near Kyiv, where there were no reports of damage, they said.

As many as six Tu-95 strategic bombers fired long-range missiles after taking off from the Murmansk Arctic Circle in northern Russia, Air Force spokesman Yuri Inat said.
blast, shutdown.

Prime Minister Denis Shmykhal said Russia's main target is energy assets and the strike aims to deprive Ukrainians of "light and heating" as temperatures in Kyiv are below freezing. "Unfortunately, the substation has been damaged. But the situation in the energy system is still under control," he wrote on Telegram.
A Reuters reporter heard the missile pass overhead about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Kyiv.

Two critical power infrastructure assets were damaged in the southern region of Odessa, but no injuries were reported. Damage was reported in the central Vinnitsa region, but officials in the Kyiv region said critical infrastructure and housing had been damaged. In the capital, Irina, an accountant who took refuge in a metro station, said she was worried about her husband.

Snow-covered Kyiv was eerily quiet during the strike, but life soon returned to normal. Central bank officials announced the results of the interest rate meeting in a briefing from the safety of their secret hideout.

DTEK, Ukraine's largest private power company, said it was implementing emergency power outages in Kyiv and surrounding areas, as well as the Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, following the rocket attack.

Ukraine's commander-in-chief claimed Ukrainian air defense systems shot down 47 of his 55 rockets fired at the country by Russian forces, but Olek, a spokesman for the State Ambulance Service revealed the damage on state television. The Kyiv Independent quoted him as saying that the figure represents the total number of casualties from rocket and drone attacks carried out during the night and morning.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities on Thursday labeled the independent news agency Medusa an "unwanted organization," effectively banning the site from operating in Russia and banning Russians from collaborating with Medusa or its journalists. reported the Guardian.