Russia launches 'severe' and deadly missile attack on Kyiv, Zelenskyy says
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 600 drones and 90 missiles.
LONDON -- At least four people were killed and 83 people injured across Ukraine after Russia launched a major overnight missile and drone strike on the country, Ukrainian officials said.
"The attack was severe," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram. "The most hits were in Kyiv, and Kyiv was the main target of this Russian attack," he added.
Among the targets were a water supply facility, a market, schools and residential buildings, Zelenskyy said. "He's truly insane," the Ukrainian leader said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "It's important that this doesn't go unpunished for Russia. Today, everyone in the world who doesn't stay silent and who helps Ukraine is a defender of life."
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 600 drones and 90 missiles into the country overnight, of which 549 drones and 55 missiles were intercepted. The air force said it believed that another 19 missiles failed to reach their targets. Sixteen missiles and 51 drones impacted across 54 locations, the air force said.
Among the missiles used was an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, the air force said, which was launched from the Russian rocket launch complex of Kapustin Yar. Zelenskyy said the missile targeted Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in posts to social media that at least two people were killed across the capital region. Another 56 people were injured in the city, Klitschko reported, describing the night as "terrible."
Authorities said two people were also killed in the Bucha and Obukhiv districts, both of which are located within the Kyiv region.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha characterized the latest round of strikes as "terror against civilians," adding that the Foreign Ministry building in the center of the city sustained light damage.
Sybiha said of Putin, "This strike was probably meant to demonstrate 'strength' to the domestic audience, but instead it only confirms Putin's weakness. Even Russians see that he is a loser."
"To our allies, I want to say this: it is time to double down, not back down, in supporting Ukraine and increasing pressure on the Russian regime," Sybiha wrote.
"We call for additional defense capabilities, including to protect our sky; investment in our defense industry; increased pressure on Russia, including entry ban for Russian combatants, full use of frozen assets; strong political decisions with regard to Ukraine's EU accession and other steps," he added.
Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed its use of the Oreshnik missile in the strikes on Ukraine, describing the overnight attacks as "massive" and a response to "Ukraine's terrorist attacks on civilian facilities within Russian territory."
"The objectives of the strike were achieved. All designated targets were hit," the ministry said in a post to Telegram.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president who now serves as the deputy chairman of the country's Security Council, framed the attacks as retaliation for recent Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russia.
"We must strike -- like today, and even much harder!" Medvedev wrote in a post to Telegram. "After all, ruins and gray ashes in place of their capital's symbols demoralize the enemy no less than the loss of a battle flag."
Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses shot down 33 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The regional administration in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said that one person there was killed by a drone.
Russia's federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, said that temporary flight restrictions were introduced at airports in Kaluga, Cherepovets and Yaroslavl.
ABC News' Matthew Holroyd, Charlotte Gardiner, Anna Sergeeva and Rashid Haddou-Riffi contributed to this report.
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