Russia says it launched a 'massive' overnight strike on 9 Ukrainian cities

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia bombarded cities across Ukraine with missiles and drones in an onslaught that began after nightfall Wednesday and continued into daylight hours Thursday, when explosions echoed around the capital Kyiv through the morning.

Ukraine is desperately short of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles that can counter Russia’s ballistic missiles, and Moscow’s fast-flying jet-powered drones have brought another challenge in the fifth year since the Russian army’s invasion .

Ukrainian officials say Russia builds up missile stocks and launches major attacks every few days, hoping to exhaust Ukrainian defenses through the sheer weight of numbers. In response, Ukraine has hit high-profile targets on Russian soil as the countries inflict mutual destruction.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces carried out a “massive” overnight strike on targets in nine Ukrainian cities. It described the targets as military-related, including industrial facilities, oil refineries, logistics hubs and port infrastructure.

Civilian areas including apartment blocks suffered damage. The barrage killed a 78-year-old woman in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, with at least nine people reported wounded elsewhere, Ukrainian officials said.

“Russia continues to invest in missiles and in expanding its war, and that means more countermeasures are needed,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media, noting promises earlier this week by European countries to provide more air defense help.

“It is important that these (measures) are also supplemented by additional ballistic missile defense packages” through European purchases of weapons from the United States, he said.

Zelenskyy was due to visit neighboring Moldova on Thursday to mark its national day commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. Ukraine announced its independence the same year.

Russia’s neighbors in Eastern Europe are concerned its invasion of Ukraine could trigger a wider conflict, and drones flying into its airspace have fueled jitters.

Moldova’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday that five drones breached its airspace overnight, but it didn’t specify who fired them.

Ukraine’s air force said defenses shot down or suppressed seven Russian ballistic missiles, though it didn’t say how they achieved that.

Four districts of Kyiv were hit during the night, damaging residential blocks, a school building and a medical facility, though no casualties were reported, city police said.

Russian forces struck industrial facilities as well as energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s central Poltava region, said Vitalii Diakivnych, head of the Poltava regional military administration.

The southern Odesa region also came under a massive Russian attack lasting more than seven hours, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional military administration.

The barrage damaged a 16-story residential building and two educational facilities as well as a grain elevator, he said. Odesa is a key port for Ukraine’s vital exports of grain and other agricultural products.

Ukraine has also fired hundreds of long-range drones almost nightly at targets in Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses shot down 267 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

After razing huge warehouses in recent months belonging to Wildberries , Russia’s biggest online retailer, Ukrainian drones are now taking aim at Ozon, the country's second-largest e-commerce company.

Ozon said its logistics facilities in the cities of Orenburg and Ufa were attacked but neither of the premises caught fire.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine