Hours after launched a drone and missile barrage targeting Ukraine and killing 27 people overnight, Moscow and Kyiv on Thursday (local time) vowed fresh assaults in their over-four-year war.
The attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, tore apart apartment buildings and sent tens of thousands of people to shelters, with Kyiv’s mayor describing it as the “enemy’s most massive attack on the capital,” AFP reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country would “definitely” retaliate for the overnight as he carried out inspections at an apartment block that was partially destroyed.
Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, confirmed that 27 people had been killed and at least 91 had been injured.
Here’s what we know about the latest assault
Late on Wednesday (local time), blasts started echoing through the city and continued into the early hours of Thursday as Russian missiles and bombarded residential areas in the city centre.
The attack came hours after Zelenskyy cut short his visit to Dublin on Wednesday and cited new intelligence reports of an impending strike. He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been preparing this massive strike against Ukraine for some time now”.
According to Ukraine’s air force, launched at least 496 drones and 74 missiles, including hard-to-intercept ballistic projectiles. The air force added that it intercepted 476 drones and 48 missiles.
Following the latest attack, the Red Cross’ Ukrainian branch noted that its key warehouse had been destroyed and humanitarian aid worth around $2 million was lost. (EU) spokeswoman Anitta Hipper told AFP that debris also damaged a building that was hosting several diplomats, adding that EU officials were safe.
According to the Kyiv metro, roughly 52,000 people, including 4,500 children, were packed into underground stations seeking shelter from the latest barrage, making it the highest number in recent years.
The latest assault came weeks after Ukraine ramped up its long-range drone attacks inside Russian territory, attacking energy infrastructure and military targets. Russian officials have reported repeated strikes in border areas. At the same time, Moscow has maintained that its air defences have intercepted hundreds of drones from Kyiv over the last few days.
While UN Secretary-General condemned Russia’s strikes and renewed calls for a ceasefire, Moscow vowed to further intensify “pressure” on Kyiv.
Russia suffered 1.4 million casualties: Report
CNN recently reported that Moscow’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has now cost the country some 450,000 lives. Research by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimates that the war’s total casualty numbers have surpassed two million.
CSIS estimates that Moscow has suffered at least 1.4 million casualties. This includes those killed, injured, and missing in action, a number that amounts to approximately one per cent of Moscow’s population. Meanwhile, Ukraine is estimated to have suffered between 525,000 and 625,000 casualties, including between 125,000 and 150,000 fatalities.
In Russia, these losses are not spread evenly across the country. Higher casualty rates have been reported in poorer areas and among ethnic minorities. Reports in Russian opposition media increasingly describe small, remote villages where much of the male population has been lost to the war. The study also found that Russia is no longer able to replenish its forces at the same pace at which it is sustaining battlefield losses.
- The casualty distribution within Russia reveals higher losses in poorer regions and ethnic minorities.
- The recent attack marks a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict, with Kyiv experiencing its largest strike to date.
- The humanitarian crisis is exacerbated by loss of aid resources due to damage from the strikes.
