Ukraine Hit by One of Russia’s Biggest Missile Barrages This Year

Russia fired dozens of missiles at Kyiv and other regions across Ukraine overnight, striking civilian infrastructure and the country’s defense industry in one of the biggest barrages this year as its forces continued to claw more territory in the east.

Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said Russia had launched 81 missiles of different varieties from air, land and sea, in addition to eight Iranian-made attack drones. Four of the drones and 34 cruise missiles were intercepted, Gen. Zaluzhny said.

Following the barrage, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky convened a meeting with security and intelligence officials as well as representatives of Ukroboronprom, the country’s state-held defense conglomerate.

There were strikes in 10 of Ukraine’s 27 regions, Mr. Zelensky said. “Russians can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do. But that won’t help them. They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done,” Mr. Zelensky said on Telegram.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it carried out “massive strikes” in retaliation for an attack earlier this month in the Russian Bryansk region. Moscow blamed that attack, during which it said two civilians were killed, on what it called Ukrainian saboteurs. Ukrainian intelligence said it played no part in the incident. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Moscow’s forces used high-precision long-range air, sea and land-based weapons to hit Ukraine’s military infrastructure, military factories and energy facilities.