Russian Cruise Missile Attack Targets Kyiv, Resulting In Casualty In Odesa

Again, Russia has hit Ukraine with missiles, killing one person in the city of Odesa in the south and setting fires in two parts of the capital, Kyiv, with rubble from destroyed missiles.

Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military government, said on Thursday that two more people were hurt in the attack in Odesa.

“The Air Defence Forces shot down most of the enemy’s rockets over the sea. “Unfortunately, a piece of industrial equipment was hit, killing one person and hurting two others,” Bratchuk wrote.

The Ukrainian army said there were several explosions in Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district and that debris from shot-down missiles caused a fire at a shop in the city’s Darnytskyi neighborhood.

The military also reported “cruise missile” attacks in the central Vinnytsia area, and local media reported explosions in Khmelnytskyi, which is about 100 km (62 miles) further west.

Serhii Popko, head of the city’s civil and military government, said that the air attack was stopped by Kyiv’s anti-aircraft defenses and that no one was hurt. He told people to stay in bomb shelters.

“Kiev is still being attacked from the air in a way that has never been done before in terms of power, intensity, and variety,” Popko said, adding that the attack was probably done by two Russian strategic bombers firing cruise missiles.

He said that all of the missiles were shot down by air defenses, and that a Russian surveillance drone flew over the area after the attack. This was revealed by the Kyiv Independent.

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, wrote on Telegram that a fire broke out in a garage in the city’s Darnitsya neighborhood and that debris fell in another part of the city. He said that no one was hurt in either of the two events.

The attack on Kyiv is the ninth time this month that Russian planes have hit the city. This is a clear escalation after weeks of calm and just before a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive with advanced weapons from the West.

Local media quoted Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi as saying that all but one of the 30 Russian cruise missiles used in Thursday’s attack from the sea, the air, and the ground had been destroyed by Ukrainian forces.

US officials reported that a #Patriot air defense system is operational after the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed that Russian missile strikes on #Kyiv destroyed the system on May 16. https://t.co/SkJ2rpM2cS https://t.co/Li3iC8ZO70

— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) May 18, 2023

Zaluzhnyi said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had shot down all 18 of the different types of Russian missiles that were fired at Kiev in the most complicated and coordinated attack on the city to date.

Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram that Russia had fired off six Kinzhal ballistic missiles, nine Kalibr cruise missiles, and three Iskander land-based cruise missiles. The Ukraine’s Air Force also shot down three surveillance drones and six Shahed drones made in Iran.

Patriot missile systems, which are made in the US, have been a key part of protecting Kyiv from constant missile strikes that aim at civilians and infrastructure.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, US officials revealed on Wednesday that one of the only two Patriot systems known to be in Ukraine was damaged when an unidentified projectile landed nearby. However, they said the missile system was easy to fix and still working.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that a Kinzhal hypersonic missile had been used to destroy a Patriot system in Kiev.