Explosions rock Ukraine’s capital and outskirts as Russia launches mass missile attack, killing 1, injuring 17
on Google
One man was killed after Russia launched a large-scale combined missile and drone attack on Ukraine in the early hours of Feb. 22.
Fifty missiles and 297 long-range kamikaze drones targeted the country, most of them at Kyiv and its suburbs. The Ukrainian Air Force reported downing 33 missiles and 274 drones.
Wall-shaking explosions first took place in Ukraine's capital at around 4:00 a.m. local time, according to Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground. More blasts were heard at approximately 4:30 a.m. local time and continued intermittently throughout the early morning.
The attack caused a building to collapse in the town of Fastiv, 60 kilometers southwest of Kyiv, killing a 49-year-old man and injuring seven others, according to Kyiv Oblast governor Mykola Kalashnyk. A total of 17 people were injured across the oblast as a result of the attack, including four children, he said.
Kyiv city mayor Vitali Klitschko also reported that a woman and a child were injured in the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said early on Sunday afternoon that the attack not only targeted energy facilities, but also water supply and railway infrastructure.
"This week alone, Russia launched more than 1,300 attack drones against Ukraine, over 1,400 guided aerial bombs, and 96 missiles of various types, including dozens of ballistic ones," he added.
Since October, Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine’s energy and heating infrastructure, as the country goes through one of its coldest winters in years.
The attack also targeted seven other oblasts, according to Zelensky, including the coastal region of Odesa in the south of Ukraine. Kamikaze drone attacks caused damage and fires to energy infrastructure, according to the oblast governor's, Oleh Kiper.
Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, reported that Russia hit an electrical substation in the attack on Odesa. The strike inflicted "severe damage," DTEK Spokesperson Pavlo Bilodid told the Kyiv Independent.
Crews are already on the ground working to repair the facility, he said.
In response to Russia's strikes, the Polish Air Force said it had deployed fighter jets to protect Polish airspace overnight.
"On-duty fighter pairs and an early warning aircraft were scrambled, and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems were brought to the highest level of alert," the statement read.
Russia regularly strikes Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings and energy infrastructure, as it continues to wage its war.
A Russian drone attack in northeastern Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast killed two brothers and a married couple, while a missile strike damaged a production facility belonging to U.S. multinational company Mondelez, authorities reported Feb. 21.
The two brothers were first injured by an explosive device dropped by a drone and taken to the hospital, Sumy Oblast Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported.
"On the way to the hospital, the Russians deliberately attacked the emergency vehicle with a strike drone," he added. The second Russian strike killed the siblings.
