Moscow [Russia], August 1: Russia pounded Ukraine with dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones in overnight attacks on Thursday that killed nine people, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said delays in supplies of air defence missiles from allies were costing lives.
Russia launched more than 70 missiles and about 280 drones, Zelenskiy said in a statement. The capital Kyiv and the western region of Lviv on Ukraine's border with Poland were the main focus of the attack, the Ukrainian air force said.
Zelenskiy also said Russia had deployed a North Korean missile - its first such use in a considerable amount of time - in an attack that killed six people in a village in southeastern Ukraine.
Poland, a European Union and NATO member, scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace and Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a Russian cruise missile appeared to have left a large crater and debris in a field in eastern Poland.
"Protecting against the Russian missile threat is the most important task for preserving the lives of our people," Zelenskiy said, posting pictures of destroyed houses, fires and rescuers clearing through rubble.
"Our allies know how they can help. Untimely assistance and delays in the supply of anti-ballistic missiles result in the kind of destruction and casualties we are witnessing today," he said.
Only the "extraordinary expertise" of Ukrainian air defence units had prevented more deaths, Zelenskiy said.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had struck what it called military facilities across Ukraine, from Kyiv to Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk, as well as three cargo ships.
PATRIOT AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM IN SHORT SUPPLY
Ukraine's air forces said air defence units shot down 55 missiles and 265 drones but stopped only one of nine ballistic missiles. Eleven missiles and 17 drones hit targets at 20 locations.
The U.S.-made Patriot air defence system is the only weapon in Ukraine's arsenal capable of downing Russia's ballistic missiles, which travel at several times the speed of sound.
Patriots are in chronically short supply globally.
A day of mourning was announced for Friday in a village in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where six people, including three children, were killed by a missile, regional officials said.
Zelenskiy said that five children were missing at the house, which was almost eradicated by the force of the blast. Only forensic tests, he said, could establish which members of the family the fragments found under rubble belong to.
Speaking later in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said of the attack on the village: "In Radushne, the Russians used a missile from North Korea for the first time in a long time - that is what preliminary data shows."
Two sources had said earlier that the strike was likely a North Korean ballistic missile, marking the first time in nearly a year that Russia has used such a weapon from its ally.
One person was killed in Kyiv, one in the western city of Lviv near the Polish border, and another in Poltava in central Ukraine, officials said.
In Kyiv, where air alerts lasted more than five hours, thousands sheltered in metro stations.
With the war in its fifth year, the failure of authorities to open enough air raid shelters has stirred anger among many residents of the capital.
Both Russia and Ukraine have escalated their long-range air strikes as movement on the 1,200-km (745-mile) front line has slowed, with the predominance of aerial drones making any major military breakthroughs difficult.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians in the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
RESCUERS PULL PEOPLE FROM DESTROYED BUILDING IN LVIV
In Lviv, a Russian missile hit a residential apartment building but did not explode, the city's mayor said.
Emergency workers pulled people out of the building, which suffered damage to its roof and upper floors.
"I was terrified watching the rescuers go beneath those concrete slabs," resident Marko told Reuters as rescuers pulled a boy from the damaged building.
"I'm proud that we have rescuers who aren't afraid to go into situations where those slabs could collapse on them."
About 30 people, including three children, were injured in the city where two residential buildings, a school and two kindergartens were damaged, city officials said.
RUSSIA EVACUATES 200 PEOPLE AFTER WAREHOUSE ATTACK
In Russia, officials said a warehouse of Russian top online retailer Wildberries caught fire in the western city of Penza after a Ukrainian drone attack.
Regional governor Oleg Melnichenko said on Telegram that one person was injured and about 200 were evacuated from the site, a day after the company, now a frequent target of Ukraine's strikes, evacuated another facility in central Russia.
Another Wildberries facility, in Sarapul in Russia's Udmurtia region, also caught fire after a drone attack, the company said.
The losses add to the strain on Russians who now use online sales as a main source of income, while Ukraine hits energy facilities and refineries, deepening the fuel crisis.
Top Ukrainian officials say that the strikes were aimed at reducing Russia's budget revenues and its economic ability to continue with its war in Ukraine.
Russia downed 258 drones overnight, its defence ministry said, a figure covering Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
