[Source: Reuters]
Russia pounded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles early on Tuesday, killing 23 people and wounding 130, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Moscow could launch a new assault for the second night in a row.
The strikes on cities including Kyiv and Dnipro followed Russian warnings of “systematic” attacks on the capital after a drone attack on a dormitory in Ukraine’s Russian-held region of Luhansk last month. Kyiv denies targeting the dormitory.
It was the third heavy assault on Kyiv in under a month, but Russia has been relentlessly attacking Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, since it invaded its smaller neighbour in 2022.
U.S.-brokered talks on the war in Ukraine have stalled, with Washington focused on Iran, while Russian battlefield advances have slowed and Kyiv has boosted strikes on Russian oil refineries.
Zelenskiy said there was evidence Russian forces could strike again on Tuesday night.
“According to our intelligence, another large-scale attack may occur tonight,” he said in his nightly video address.
“Please, I strongly urge you to pay attention to air raid alerts.”
Zelenskiy repeated that Ukraine was short of weapons to counter incoming Russian missiles. “Unfortunately, the current level of supplies for our air defence does not enable us to intercept a significant portion of the missiles,” he said.
He said more than 70 missiles and 650 drones had been deployed overnight and Russian forces had deployed 100 more drones throughout the day on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Ukrainian president urged Washington to send additional Patriot missile interceptors.
“If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile strikes, these attacks will continue,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
The Kremlin said the war had entered “a new paradigm” after what it called “inhumane acts of terror” by Ukraine’s military against civilians, echoing accusations Kyiv has made against Russian forces.
Moscow warned last week of systematic strikes and urged foreigners to leave Kyiv.
