Russia bombards Kyiv and other cities in onslaught testing Ukraine's defences

Russia bombarded cities across Ukraine with missiles and drones in an overnight onslaught that ran into the daylight hours of Thursday when explosions echoed around Kyiv through the morningUkraine is desperately short of USmade Patriot air defence missiles that can counter Russias ballistic missiles and Moscows fastflying jetpowered drones have brought another challenge since the Russian militarys fullscale invasion began fourandahalfyears agoUkrainian officials say Russia builds up missile stocks and launches major attacks every few days hoping to exhaust Ukrainian defences through the sheer weight of numbers In response Ukraine has hit highprofile targets on Russian soil as the countries inflict mutual destructionRussia says attack targeted warrelated facilitiesThe Russian Defence Ministry said its forces carried out a massive strike on targets in nine Ukrainian cities that began after nightfall on Wednesday It described the targets as militaryrelated including industrial facilities oil refineries logistics hubs and port infrastructureCivilian areas including apartment buildings suffered damage The barrage killed a 78yearold woman in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and another person in the northern Kharkiv region with at least 14 people reported wounded elsewhere Ukrainian officials saidRussia continues to invest in missiles and in expanding its war and that means more countermeasures are needed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media noting promises earlier this week by European countries to provide more air defense assistanceIt is important that these measures are also supplemented by additional ballistic missile defense packages through European purchases of weapons from the United States he saidThough the Russian Defence Ministry insisted only warrelated targets were attacked Russia appears determined to hurt Ukrainian businesses and dent the countrys economy through attacks on private enterprise after Ukraines longrange drone strikes caused financial difficulties for MoscowRussian drones hit three major distribution centres destroying depots belonging to a toy store chain and a confectionery company and damaging another run by an electronics retailer the companies saidIn addition Moscow continued its efforts to wreck the Ukrainian power grid before the freezing winter monthsFour powerful glide bombs destroyed generating equipment at the southern Kherson regions combined heat and power plant forcing it to shut down its operator Naftogaz saidZelenskyy expected on official visit to neighbouring MoldovaZelenskyy was due to visit neighbouring Moldova on Thursday to mark its national day commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union Ukraine announced its independence the same yearRussias neighbours in Eastern Europe are concerned its invasion of Ukraine could trigger a wider conflict and drones flying into its airspace have fuelled jittersMoldovas Ministry of Defence said Thursday that five drones breached its airspace overnight but it didnt specify who fired themUkraines air force said defences shot down or suppressed seven Russian ballistic missiles though it didnt say how they achieved thatFour districts of Kyiv were hit during the night damaging residential buildings a school and a medical facility though no casualties were reported city police saidRussian forces struck industrial facilities as well as energy infrastructure in Ukraines central Poltava region said Vitalii Diakivnych head of the Poltava regional military administrationThe southern Odesa region also came under a major Russian attack lasting more than seven hours according to Oleh Kiper head of the Odesa regional military administrationThe barrage damaged a 16story residential building and two educational facilities as well as a grain elevator he said Odesa is a key port for Ukraines vital exports of grain and other agricultural productsSome trains were delayed by more than 17 hours following the attack according to Ukrainian state rail company UkrzaliznysiaUkraine takes aim at another Russian online retailerUkraine has also fired hundreds of longrange drones almost nightly at targets in RussiaUkraines General Staff said that planelaunched missiles hit Russias main and backup command posts near the eastern city of Donetsk where Ukrainian defenders are under pressure from a Russian pushThe Russian Defence Ministry said Thursday that its air defence shot down 267 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula the Sea of Azov and the Black SeaAfter razing huge warehouses in recent months belonging to Wildberries Russias biggest online retailer Ukrainian drones are now taking aim at Ozon the countrys secondlargest ecommerce companyOzon initially said that its logistics facilities in the cities of Orenburg and Ufa were attacked but neither of the premises caught fire A later alteration to the company statement said that only the Ufa site was attacked while the Orenburg facility was evacuated because of an alert but resumed normal operationsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever