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Death toll from Dec. 29 strikes on Kyiv rises to 29 as more bodies pulled from rubble

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Death toll from Dec. 29 strikes on Kyiv rises to 29 as more bodies pulled from rubble
Kyiv is filled with smoke after Russia attacked the capital with missiles and drones on Dec. 29, 2023. (Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)

At least 29 people were killed by Russia's Dec. 29 mass strike on the capital, according to Serhii Popko, who heads the Kyiv City Military Administration.

"As of 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 1, rescuers retrieved more bodies, bringing the total to 29 people. This is the most horrific attack on the capital since the start of the full-scale war," Popko said via his official Telegram channel.

The city held a day of mourning on Jan. 1.

On Dec. 29, Russia launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on multiple Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Lviv, killing over 40 people and wounding over 160 people countrywide.

Of the 158 Russian missiles and drones launched at the country, Ukrainian air defense downed 114, according to the Air Force.

During an urgently arranged meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Dec. 29 the majority of council members, including the United States, France, and Britain, expressed strong condemnation for the attacks.

Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, asserted that Moscow had specifically targeted military infrastructure, placing the blame for civilian casualties on Ukraine's air defense systems.

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Olena Goncharova

Special Correspondent

Olena Goncharova is the Special Correspondent for the Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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