Russia pounds Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities; Poland scrambles jets
Russian missiles and drones hit Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, injuring over 20 people, while Poland scrambled jets after a daytime strike in western Ukraine.
Russia launched a wave of missiles and drones against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, injuring more than 20 people, Ukrainian officials said, as neighbouring NATO member Poland scrambled military aircraft after a daytime Russian attack in western Ukraine.
Sirens sounded in eastern Poland and two Polish airports temporarily suspended flights following the strike near the border. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a "massive attack on the western part of Ukraine — very close to the Polish border" had just ended. The Polish army said no violation of Polish airspace was recorded and its aircraft had completed operations, with the airports in Rzeszow and Lublin later reopening.
The overnight barrage included Oniks anti-ship cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, four cruise missiles and nearly 160 drones, Ukraine's air force said, without specifying how many of the more deadly ballistic missiles were intercepted. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said eight regions suffered damage.
In Kyiv, air raid alerts and the sound of air defences persisted through the night, with explosions heard on Thursday. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 20 people were wounded in the capital. Six people were hurt in the Black Sea port of Odesa, and three in Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, where Russia struck a plant owned by Ukraine's largest steelmaker, Metinvest, for the fourth time in a month.
A Russian drone attack on a Tanzania-flagged vessel heading to a Ukrainian port killed its captain and injured three crew members, Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said. A building housing equipment of Kyivstar, Ukraine's largest mobile operator, was damaged in a strike on the Kyiv region; the company said services continued and no employees were hurt.
Zelenskiy said Russia also hit energy infrastructure in the Sumy and Odesa regions, while Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery in Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow. The regional governor said the attack caused a fire that was later extinguished. Both sides have continued targeting energy infrastructure despite US President Donald Trump announcing they had agreed to halt such strikes.
The attacks followed the US House of Representatives' passage on Wednesday of sweeping sanctions and tariff legislation championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, aimed at tightening the economic squeeze on Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The bill has been sent to Trump for signature.
Zelenskiy welcomed the measure, calling it, alongside existing steps, an "extremely powerful tool" that could help force Russia to end the war. He noted the symbolism of the House passing the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act on the night of another Russian attack involving ballistic and other missiles and drones. The Kremlin said further US sanctions would make it harder to reach a peace deal.