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At least three loud blasts were heard in Kyiv shortly before
sunrise. Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted five Iskander
short-range ballistic missiles fired at the city. The attack
knocked out heating to 630 residential buildings, 16 medical
facilities, and 30 schools and kindergartens, the city
administration said, and falling missile debris caused damage
and sparked fires in three districts.
“We ask citizens to immediately respond to reports of ballistic
attack threats, because there is very little time to find
shelter,” the air force said.
During the almost three years since the war began Russia has
regularly bombarded civilian areas of Ukraine, often in an
attempt to cripple the power grid and unnerve Ukrainians.
Meanwhile Ukraine, struggling to hold back Russia's bigger army
on the front line, has attempted to strike Russian
infrastructure supporting the country’s war effort.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said the strike was in response
to a Ukrainian missile attack on Russia's Rostov border region
two days earlier. That attack used six American-made Army
Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, missiles and four
Storm Shadow air-launched missiles provided by the United
Kingdom, it said.
That day, Ukraine claimed to have targeted a Rostov oil refinery
as part of its campaign to strike Russian infrastructure
supporting the country's war effort.
The use of Western-supplied weapons to strike Russia has angered
the Kremlin. Ukraine fired several American-supplied
longer-range missiles into Russia for the first time on Nov. 19
after Washington eased restrictions on their use.
That development prompted Russia to use a new hypersonic
missile, called Oreshnik, for the first time. President Vladimir
Putin suggested the missile could be used to target government
buildings in Kyiv, though there have been no reports of an
Oreshnik being used for a second time.
Answering the Ukrainian attack on Rostov on Wednesday, the
Defense Ministry said it carried out a group strike with
“high-precision, long-range weapons” on the command center of
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency and another location
where it said Ukraine’s Neptune missile systems are designed and
produced.
The attack also targeted Ukrainian ground-based cruise missile
systems and U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, the Defense
Ministry said.
“The objectives of the strike have been achieved. All objects
are hit,” the defense ministry said in a Telegram post.
Its claims could not immediately be verified.
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This story has been corrected to show that Russia claimed
Friday's attack was in response to a Ukrainian strike on Dec.
18, not earlier Friday.
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