KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian air defenses, bolstered by sophisticated Western-supplied systems, thwarted an intense Russian air attack on Kyiv early Tuesday, shooting down all 18 missiles aimed at the capital, officials said.
The
bombardment included six Russian “Kinzhal” aero-ballistic hypersonic missiles —
the most fired in a single attack in the war so far — according to air force
spokesman Yurii Ihnat.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly touted the “Kinzhals” as a key
strategic competitive advantage of Russia, difficult to detect and intercept
because of their hypersonic speed and other characteristics. If confirmed,
Ukraine’s ability to shoot down all six fired on Tuesday appeared to mark another
blow to his war efforts and shows the increasing effectiveness of Kyiv’s air
defenses.
Ihnat
said Russia fired the “Kinzhals” from MiG-31K warplanes, along with nine cruise
missiles from ships in the Black Sea and three S-400 cruise missiles launched
from the ground.
Loud
explosions boomed over Kyiv in the major nighttime attack apparently aimed at
overwhelming Ukraine’s air defenses. Kyiv’s mayor reported three people were
wounded.
The
barrage came as European leaders sought new ways to punish Russia for the war
and a Chinese envoy sought traction for Beijing’s peace proposal, which so far
appears to have made little impression on the warring sides. It also came as
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned home from a whirlwind European
tour to seek more military aid.
The
overnight attack on Kyiv was “exceptional in its density — the maximum number
of attacking missiles in the shortest period of time,” said Serhii Popko, the
head of the Kyiv military administration.
Valentyna
Myronets, a 64-year-old Kyiv resident, said she felt “pain, fear, nervousness,
restlessness” amid the assaults. “God, we are waiting for victory and when all
this is over,” she said.
U.K.
Ambassador Melinda Simmons tweeted that the barrage was “pretty intense.”
“Bangs
and shaking walls are not an easy night,” she wrote.
It was
the eighth time this month that Russian air raids had targeted the capital, a
clear escalation after weeks of lull and ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian
counteroffensive using newly supplied advanced Western weapons.
After
the first onslaught, Russia also launched Iranian-made Shahed attack drones and
conducted aerial reconnaissance, Ihnat said.
Debris
fell across several districts in the capital, starting fires, Kyiv Mayor Vitali
Klitschko said.
Sophisticated
Western air defense systems, including American-made Patriot missiles, have
helped spare Kyiv from the kind of destruction witnessed along the main front
line in the country’s east and south. While most of the ground fighting is
stalemated along that front line, both sides are targeting other territory with
long-range weapons.
Associated
Press reporters saw a metal fragment that landed inside the Kyiv zoo labeled
Lockheed Martin and Boeing, two of the companies involved in manufacturing the
Patriot missile system.
Russian
Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said a “Kinzhal” destroyed a
Patriot missile battery in Kyiv but he didn’t provide evidence, and the
statement couldn’t be independently verified. Ihnat, the Ukrainian air force
spokesman, refused to comment on the claim.
The
bolstered air defenses have deterred Russian aircraft from going deep into
Ukraine and helped shape the course of the war, military experts say.
In
Iceland, European leaders are taking part in a rare summit of the 46-nation
Council of Europe, the continent’s main human rights body, to discuss how to
manage claims for compensation from Russia’s damage to Ukraine.
Meanwhile,
a Chinese envoy is preparing to visit Ukraine and Russia as Beijing advocates a
peace plan it released in February. Li Hui, a former ambassador to Moscow, also
will visit Poland, France and Germany, according to the Chinese foreign
ministry.
Ukraine
has cautiously welcomed China’s proposal while saying it would wait to see what
specific actions China takes. Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government says it is
neutral and wants to mediate in the war, but it has given Moscow political
support, and a breakthrough appears unlikely more than 14 months after Russia’s
full-scale invasion.
In
Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) from Kyiv,
Russian officials have begun training for a planned evacuation from the
shut-down Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant of 3,100 staff and their families, a
representative of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear company, said Tuesday.
The plant, Europe’s largest, employed around 11,000 staff before the war, some
6,000 of whom remain at the site and in the surrounding town of Enerhodar.
More
Russian military units have been arriving at the site and are mining it, the
representative told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity due to
security concerns. Russian troops have barred remaining workers from
communicating with each other or leaving, to prevent information from leaking
out on Russian positions and military equipment, Energoatom said on Telegram.
In other
developments:
—Ukrainian
forces have recaptured around 20 kilometers (7.7 square miles) of territory
north and south of Bakhmut since last week, but Russian troops continue their
grinding advance within the city, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said
Tuesday. “Heavy battles continue with differing results,” Hanna Malyar said on
Telegram. The Russian-installed head of the partially occupied Donetsk region,
Denis Pushilin, told Russian state TV that Russian forces near Bakhmut have
reinforced their flanks in the face of Ukrainian successes.
— At
least seven civilians died and 14 others were wounded in Russian shelling of
Ukrainian regions from Monday through Tuesday morning, the country’s
presidential office said.
— In
Ukraine’s latest corruption scandal, which saw the head of the Supreme Court
detained for alleged bribery on Monday, the chief of Ukraine’s National
Anti-Corruption Bureau, Semen Kryvonos, said Tuesday the main suspect in the
case was mining magnate Kostiantyn Zhevago.
Zhevago
was arrested in the French Alps in January on suspicion of embezzling tens of
millions of dollars. Kyiv has requested his extradition.
— South
African President Cyril Ramaphosa says his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts
have agreed to separate meetings with a delegation of African heads of state to
discuss a possible plan to end the war in Ukraine. A statement from Ramaphosa’s
office on Tuesday said he spoke with Putin and Zelenskyy by phone over the
weekend and they agreed to host “an African leaders peace mission” in Moscow
and Kyiv, respectively.
***Vasilisa
Stepanenko in Kyiv, and Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this
report.
*Follow
AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-attack-kyiv-db14b569b86299a519df0d1e79dcad2c