Huge explosions shook Kyiv and raid sirens sounded across Ukraine on Thursday morning during a mass missile attack 24 hours after commitments were made by the US and Germany to send advanced battle tanks. There were reports of at least one person killed in the capital, Kyiv.
A total of 30 missiles were said to be launched against targets in the war-torn country with Ukraine’s air defences having also shot down 24 Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze” drones overnight.
“We expect more than 30 missiles, which have already started to appear in various territories,” said Yuriy Ignat, a Ukrainian military spokesperson. “Air defence systems are working.”
Another spokesperson later claimed that Ukraine’s air defences had shot down 15 cruise missiles heading to Kyiv.
In the capital, the calm of a cold and snowy morning had been broken at 10.06am local time by the sound of large explosions in the south of the city.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reported on Telegram: “As a result of a rocket hitting a non-residential building in the Holosiiv district, there is currently information about one dead and two wounded. The injured were hospitalised by medics.”
The targets of the strikes across the country appeared primarily to be electricity plants and substations.
Maksym Marchenko, the regional head of Odesa, a city in southern Ukraine, said: “Due to damage to several energy infrastructure facilities in Odesa and other regions of Ukraine, there are significant problems with electricity supply.
“Energy workers have already started repair work, but it will take some time to repair the damage. Currently, Russian planes are in the air.”
As people rushed to cellars and bunkers for protection, local authorities had sought to reassure the population that they had the means to take some of the missiles down.
The Ukrainian air force said it had successfully stopped a drone attack overnight. “Attack UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle) were launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov. According to preliminary information, the enemy used 24 Shaheds. All 24 were destroyed,” the air force said.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the president’s office, said on Telegram: “The first Russian missiles have been shot down.”
The attack was said by the government to be the 13th mass cruise missile barrage since the start of the war.
Bridget Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, tweeted: “Another cruel attack, same strategic failure. Waves of Russian drones and missiles can’t stop Ukraine’s heroic defenders, its brave people or our determined, unified support.”
On Wednesday, Joe Biden approved sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, after weeks of speculation. The reversal of the US’s position came after Germany confirmed it would make 14 of its Leopard 2A6 tanks available to Ukraine and give partner countries its permission to re-export other tanks.
Berlin’s decision unlocks offers by Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland and Norway to provide Ukraine with their own German-manufactured Leopards. About 300 tanks are expected to be provided.
Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister, said the latest attacks highlighted the value of the tank pledges from the west. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the sooner such hardware was received, “the sooner we will be able to end this missile terror and restore peace”.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the decision by western allies, urging them to provide large quantities of tanks quickly. “The key now is speed and volumes. Speed in training our forces, speed in supplying tanks to Ukraine. The numbers in tank support,” he said in his nightly video address.
Yermak said hundreds of tanks were needed.
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