Russia launched a massive missile attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Wednesday in an apparent show of strength, minutes after Volodymyr Zelenskiy met Joe Biden for talks in Washington.
Ukraine’s air defences shot down all 10 Russian missiles targeting the capital at 3am local time. Falling debris caused extensive damage to four neighbourhoods on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River and at least 53 people were injured in what Zelenskiy described as a “heinous” crime.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, posted video footage of the destruction. Ballistic missile fragments had fallen in the yard of an apartment building, damaging balconies and setting fire to a flat on the sixth floor. A kindergarten was badly damaged. Several parked cars had been set alight, and windows in properties blown out.
Ballistic missile fragments fell into the yard of the apartment building. As a result, both the house and the kindergarten located nearby were damaged. The parked cars in the yard burned down, and the windows in the neighboring houses and the school were smashed. pic.twitter.com/pockBquq0c
— Віталій Кличко (@Vitaliy_Klychko) December 13, 2023
Twenty people needed hospital treatment. Most had cuts from flying glass. Five children were injured. Fifteen residents had to be evacuated, Klitschko said, adding that a children’s hospital was also damaged.
The US ambassador in Ukraine, Bridget Brink, linked the overnight attack to Zelenskiy’s meeting with Biden in the Oval Office. The two leaders held a joint press conference, with Biden announcing an additional $200m drawdown in security assistance.
Zelenskiy earlier met the House speaker, Mike Johnson, and other leading Republicans, who last week voted down a $61bn military aid package to Ukraine. His attempts to persuade them to drop their objections to the supplemental legislation have so far been unsuccessful.
And immediately after the Oval Office meeting in DC - at 0300 local time - Russia launched 10 ballistic missiles that reached Kyiv in less than 2 minutes. Ukraine shot them all down. Again, Russia showed its goal; and again, Ukraine responded - showing the capability of its air…
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) December 13, 2023
However, speaking in Oslo at a meeting with Nordic leaders on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said he had received a “positive signal” during his trip to Washington, and the US would continue its support and assistance to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president admitted there may be timing issues and internal politics but he was confident of the US’s backing. Citing conversations with “congressmen, senators, representatives of both parties, with administration of the president and with him personally, from the speaker of the United States”, he said: “I received a positive signal concerning support of Ukraine and assistance from the side of the United States.”
Wednesday’s missile attack was the second on Kyiv in a week, after a long period of calm in the Ukrainian capital was broken by an attack on Sunday. Russia has been seeking to regain the strategic initiative in recent weeks and has been trying to advance across the eastern frontline.
Posting on X, Zelenskiy said “powerful new agreements” with the Biden administration would strengthen Ukraine’s air defences. “We are working on speeding up delivery,” he said. These defences would save lives, Zelenskiy said.
He called Russia a “terrorist” state. “Russia has proven once again that it is a heinous country that fires missiles at night, trying to hit residential areas, kindergartens, and energy facilities during the winter. There will be a response. Certainly,” he said.
The Kyiv city military administration reported that “as a result of the downing of enemy air targets, numerous falling debris was recorded in Dniprovsky and Desnyansky districts”. It said some people were evacuated from their homes.
As winter sets in and hampers troop movements, allowing little change along the frontline, air bombardment will play a growing role in the war.
Zelenskiy, speaking alongside the prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Denmark, said on Wednesday that the rest of Europe should follow the example of the Nordic countries in their support for Ukraine.
Responding to criticism that Ukraine ought to defend itself rather than be on the offensive, he insisted that his country was not in crisis in its war with Russia.
“In terms of claim of the generals of the United States and some personalities, several military people, I should say that in any case it is not about crisis,” he said. “It is about winter. And during wintertime we always have a slowing of one or other operations, counter-offensive or defensive, doesn’t matter.”
He said Ukraine had had “huge success” at sea, highlighting his military’s work in the Black Sea, adding: “Therefore we have to be prepared for further operations.”
