Four killed as Russia continues Ukraine attacks

KYIV (AFP) — Ukraine said Tuesday that its air defense systems had downed five missiles and 60 attack drones in a second night of Russian aerial bombardments that killed four.

The overnight attacks came one day after the Kremlin launched one of its largest-ever aerial attacks on Ukraine that battered energy facilities and left several dead.

The air force said on social media Tuesday morning that Russia had launched a total of 91 projectiles including 10 missiles and 81 Iranian-designed attack drones from several regions of Russia.

“Unfortunately, despite the effective work of our air defense systems, four people were killed and 16 were wounded,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media.

He said rescue work was ongoing at the impact sites and vowed a response to the attacks.

“Crimes against humanity cannot be committed with impunity,” he added in the post.

Agence France-Presse journalists in the capital Kyiv heard air raid sirens echo over the city throughout the night as well as explosions, likely from air defense systems.

Since invading in February 2022, Russia has launched repeated large-scale drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, including punishing strikes on energy facilities.

Local authorities said earlier on Tuesday that two people had been killed in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and two in the central city of Kryvyi Rig after a missile struck a hotel.

The hotel strike comes just days after a team working for the Reuters news agency were hit by a missile in their hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, killing a safety advisor working with the agency.