KYIV, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Russia hit the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with ballistic missiles and drones early on Thursday, killing two, one of them in the parking lot of a maternity hospital that was damaged, officials said.
In recent months Russia has stepped up its air war against Ukraine, deploying more of the faster and harder-to-intercept drones, and seizing on Ukraine’s shortage of interceptors to down ballistic missiles.
“As people were sleeping, flashes from explosions lit up the sky,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Once again, the main targets of their strike were Kyiv and civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, a maternity hospital, energy infrastructure, and logistics.”
The overnight barrage included an unspecified number of hypersonic and ballistic missiles, 282 drones and other weapons, Ukraine’s air force said.
Eight people were injured in the attacks, officials said, with city mayor Vitali Klitschko adding that part of the hospital’s facade had been damaged, as was a nearby clinic-diagnostic center.
Insufficient pressure on Moscow allowed it to launch repeated strikes, said Zelenskiy, who was visiting New York to attend a session of the UN General Assembly.
“Right now, the United States has the opportunity to respond strongly,” he added. “We need ballistic interceptors to protect lives.”
Zelenskiy told media there were three waves of ballistic missiles, with around 60% of them downed in Kyiv.
Several explosions resounded across the city, where police said nine homes, a post office, warehouses and dozens cars had been damaged in three districts, aside from the maternity hospital.
The overnight attack followed one during the day with jet-powered drones that killed two and injured more than 40.
The Russian defence ministry said its forces hit Ukrainian defence facilities, logistics and telecoms centres, as well as vessels used by the military.
In the Black Sea port of Odesa, the head of the city’s military administration, Serhiy Lysak, said the overnight Russian strikes damaged a medical facility and shattered windows in nearby houses and a school.
(Reporting by Valentyn Ogirenko and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk; Writing by Ron Popeski and Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Chris Reese, Michael Perry and Clarence Fernandez)
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