KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Moscow launched dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones at Ukraine early Friday, killing at least three people in Kyiv, after President Vladimir Putin vowed retaliation for an audacious Ukrainian attack on Russian airbases.
Agence France-Presse journalists heard air raid sirens and explosions ring out in Kyiv throughout the night as Ukrainian air defense batteries intercepted waves of Russian drones and missiles.
Following the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on allies to “decisively” ramp up pressure on Russia to halt its invasion, which has left tens of thousands dead after more than three years of brutal and costly fighting.
One image published by the head of Zelensky’s office showed a children’s playground scattered with rubble and shards of glass.
Zelensky said at least three people had been killed in the capital, and that Russia had targeted nine regions of Ukraine, including Lviv and Volyn in the west, which border the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization member Poland.
Russia’s army said Friday it had launched a “massive” missile and drone strike at Ukraine in “response” to recent attacks by Kyiv on its territory.
Airfields attacked
Meanwhile, Kyiv said on Friday that it had launched “successful” strikes on two military airfields inside Russia that Kyiv said were used to stage aerial attacks on Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said it had attacked the Engels airfield in the Saratov region that lies hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine, calling the facility “a place of concentration of enemy aircraft.”
It also said it had struck the Dyagilevo airfield near Moscow where “refuelling and escort” jets are based that aid Russian aerial assaults on Ukraine.
