Massive Russian Attack on Cities Across Ukraine Kills At Least 16 People

A Russian missile and drone attack has killed at least 16 people across Ukraine, including two children, marking one of Moscow’s largest assaults in recent months.
An eight-year-old boy and a woman pulled from the rubble of an apartment block were among 11 people killed in Dnipro, regional officials said. In the capital Kyiv, five people were killed.
President Volodomyr Zelensky said civilian infrastructure and energy facilities had been targeted across the country, injuring dozens.
Russia’s defence ministry said the strikes had been a response to previous Ukrainian attacks, saying in a statement that the “strike objectives” had all been achieved.
Moscow last week warned it would launch “systematic strikes” after accusing Kyiv of a deadly attack on a student dormitory in an occupied part of eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv said it had hit a Russian military unit.
Zelensky had warned a “massive strike” was possible in his nightly video address on Monday, and urged residents to pay special attention to air raid alerts.
On Tuesday morning, he said Russia had launched 656 strike drones and 73 missiles of various types – ballistic, cruise, and anti-ship – in the overnight attack.
“We urgently need help from the United States in supplying missiles for Patriot systems”, the Ukrainian president said, referring to interception hardware used to intercept Russian missiles.
Patriot missiles have been in short supply, exacerbated by the US and Israeli war against Iran.
Since returning to power last year, Trump has also stopped direct supplies to Ukraine, so Kyiv’s European allies have been buying them from the US before sending them to Ukraine.