Ukraine war: Missile and drone attack launched against Russia

MOSCOW — Russia says it has destroyed dozens of missiles and drones fired at its territory from Ukraine. Local officials reported two people, including a child, were killed in the attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said 13 missiles and 32 drones were shot down over several Russian regions.

A child was reported killed in Bryansk region, while a man in Belgorod region was also said to have died.

The attacks follow strikes on Ukraine, which killed at least 34 people.

An initial statement from the Russian Defense Ministry said 13 missiles were destroyed over Belgorod.

Later, it said 32 drones had been shot down overnight in the Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk and Moscow regions.

The governor of Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, said two villages were targeted and a child, born in 2014, had been killed.

A man was killed in Belgorod after a house was hit, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

He added that four people were being treated for injuries and the water supply in the city of Belgorod was disrupted.

The attack comes after what Kyiv described as Russia’s biggest missile bombardment of the war so far against Ukraine.

At least 34 people were killed and 160 people injured as Russia hit cities across the country on Friday — including the capital Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Lviv.

In an update on Saturday, Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitchsko said four more bodies had been pulled from the rubble of a warehouse that was hit by a missile — taking the total number of killed in the city to 13.

Belgorod city is 80km (50 miles) north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which came under heavy fire by Russian forces on Friday morning as part of the wide-ranging strikes.

On Friday evening, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council overwhelmingly condemned Russia’s renewed mass-bombing campaign in Ukraine and said attacks must stop “immediately”.

Countries including the US, UK and France said hitting civilian infrastructure had violated the international rules of war.

“Rather than peace, Putin chose to mark this holiday season… with an unprecedented number of drone and missile attacks,” US representative to the UN John Kelley said.

Russia said Ukrainian air defenses were to blame for causing damage to civilian buildings. — BBC