Missiles kill eight, wound dozen

KYIV (AFP) — Russian strikes killed at least eight people and wounded more than a dozen others across Ukraine, authorities said on Thursday, triggering renewed calls from Kyiv for its allies to send air defense supplies.

One of the dozens of missiles fired by Russia struck a village house near the central city of Kryvyi Rig, local authorities said, killing three adults and three children from the same family.

“It was an ordinary home, blown into smithereens by a ballistic missile,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“Two more children were pulled out alive,” he added.

The regional governor published photos of rescuers sifting through the rubble of a small house.

The overnight attack, which involved 74 missiles and 284 drones according to the air force, also resulted in casualties in the capital Kyiv, and in Poltava.

Russia’s defense ministry said it had hit Ukrainian military-industrial complex, military communications and logistics centers.

Ukraine’s air force said it managed to intercept 55 missiles and 265 drones launched by Moscow.

In neighboring Poland, police said they had discovered a 10-meter-wide crater in a field — likely caused by a projectile.

The country’s operational command said it had detected an “unidentified object” which then dropped off radar screens.

Russian drones have previously been detected flying through Polish airspace during attacks on Russia, while in 2022 two people in a border village were killed by a misfiring Ukrainian air defense missile.

Zelensky refreshed his call for more supplies of air defense to protect Ukraine against Russia’s ballistic missiles.

“Given the critical shortage of air defense missiles from our partners, our warriors are accomplishing truly incredible things,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian leader on Tuesday had discussed anti-ballistic defense with American counterpart Donald Trump at the White House and discussed the possibility of Ukraine producing anti-ballistic Patriot interceptors.

Zelensky said he had a “good meeting” with Trump and said the US president “accepted that he will give us (Patriot) licenses.”

Kyiv has throughout the war developed ways to defend itself against Russian drones and missiles, but super-fast ballistic missiles remain a challenge.

Of more than 120 ballistic missiles fired by Russia this month, Ukraine has downed less than a third of them, according to data from Kyiv’s air force.

That compares to an interception rate for drones of around 90 percent.

Meanwhile, Polish authorities said Thursday that a 10 meter wide crater had been left by an explosion, likely of a Russian missile, in an eastern region bordering Ukraine.

At a press conference at the scene, about 80 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the missile that caused the explosion was likely a Russian Kh-101.

“From the analysis of most of the traces, the recovered fragments point to a Russian Kh-101 missile,” he said.

Residents of Tarnawa Kolonia, reported hearing an explosion at about 4 a.m. that shook the windows of their homes.