Update: Ukraine downs 54 out of 69 missiles amid Russia’s 8th mass attack
Editor's Note: This article initially said that 120 Russian missiles were launched at Ukraine on Dec. 29, citing Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the President's Office. The article was updated after Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the chief commander of Ukraine's Armed Forces, published different numbers. According to Zaluzhnyi, 69 Russian cruise missiles were launched on Dec. 29.
Russia launched a new mass attack using air and sea-based cruise missiles from various directions early on Dec. 29, Ukraine’s Air Force reported.
According to Chief Commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Air Force shot down 54 out of 69 missiles Russia had fired against Ukraine during its eighth mass strike targeting energy infrastructure.
Governors of at least eight Ukrainian regions across the country said early morning that Russian missiles were attacking their oblasts. According to reports from the local authorities, 21 rockets above Odesa Oblast and 16 above Kyiv,
According to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, at least three people were injured in Kyiv.
Russia’s eighth mass bombardment of Ukrainian energy infrastructure comes amid Moscow’s months-long deadly campaign to take out the energy system in Ukraine during cold winter months. Kyiv and its Western allies have condemned the campaign, which Russia began after facing a string of humiliating battlefield defeats.
Early on Dec. 29, Kyiv residents were awoken by several explosions. Kyiv City Military Administration reported that a Russian missile shot down in the capital had hit a “private building” in the Darynytsky district on the eastern (left) bank of the Dnipro River.
Ahead of a possible worsened energy situation, Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko urged residents to charge electronic devices and stock up on water. He said that 40% of households in the capital were cut off from electricity as of 11:20 a.m.
Klitschko said that the three victims were hospitalized in Kyiv and one of them was a 14-year-old girl.
There is no further information from the local authorities on the destruction.
Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, also came under the attack. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that a Russian missile strike had hit the Slobidskyi district in the southern part of the city, but details on destruction and casualties were still being clarified.
Explosions were also reportedly heard in the usually quiet city of Lviv in western Ukraine. Lviv Oblast Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said that air defense was working and urged residents to stay in shelters.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said at around 10 a.m. that 90% of the city was cut off from electricity.
Meanwhile, Odesa Oblast Governor Maksym Marchenko said Ukraine’s Air Defense had shot down 21 missiles over the southern region, but energy infrastructure had sustained damages. The number of missiles Russia launched at Odesa Oblast was not disclosed.
Immediately after the attack, Odesa Oblast, as well as the central Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, was forced to roll emergency power outages, energy giant DTEK said.
In a Telegram post, Marchenko added that fragments of a downed Russian missile fell onto a residential building, but there were no casualties.
In the neighboring Mykolaiv Oblast, Governor Vitaliy Kim reported that three Russian missiles were shot down over the Black Sea.
Deputy Head of the President's Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported that a Russian missile flew straight into a house in a village in the western Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, but it "miraculously" did not explode.
"The cynicism of Russians has no boundary," Tymoshenko said in a Telegram port.
Russia’s recent mass missile strike comes after an overnight kamikaze drone attack, in which the Air Force reported shooting down five loitering munitions over the central city of Dnipro.
