Overnight Russian Missiles Strikes Kill One in Odesa, Kyiv Rocked by Explosions

One person has been killed and two injured in Odesa after Russia launched yet another overnight missile attack on Ukrainian cities. 

Explosions were also heard in the early hours of Thursday morning in Kyiv. According to authorities, all missiles targeting the capital were intercepted by air defenses.

Ukraine’s army reported a fire had broken out at a business in the city’s Darnytskyi neighborhood as a result of falling debris.

The military also reported “cruise missile” attacks in the central Vinnytsia region, and there are reports of explosions in Khmelnytskyi, about 100 kilometers further west.

Later on Thursday morning, Ukraine said Thursday its air defence forces had shot down 29 out of 30 Russian cruise missiles. "The Russian occupiers launched several waves of missile attacks from different directions. A total of 30 sea, air and land-based cruise missiles were launched," the military said, adding that Ukrainian air defence systems had "destroyed 29 cruise missiles."

Speaking of the attack on Odesa, Ukraine’s South Operational Command said: “The [enemy] attack involved different missiles fired from different directions.

“Most of them were destroyed by the anti-aircraft defense units but, unfortunately, some projectiles hit industrial infrastructure. One civilian was killed and two injured.”

Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s civil and military administration, said there were no reports of injuries in the capital, adding: “A series of air attacks on Kyiv, unprecedented in their power, intensity and variety, continues.”

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Air raid sirens sounded in the capital just after 3 am. A Kyiv Post reporter was woken just after 5 am by two explosions loud enough to set off car alarms in the center of the city.

Popko added: “According to the preliminary data, all enemy targets in Kyiv’s airspace were detected and destroyed.

“The Air Force will soon [release an] update on the number and type of missiles and UAVs.”

On Thursday afternoon and offering no evidence, Russia said it hit all targets in the series of strikes overnight.

"All assigned targets have been destroyed," the Russian defence ministry said, adding that its forces hit "a significant stock of weapons and ammunition of the Ukrainian armed forces."

The attack came hours after a a US defense official said on Wednesday said a high-tech Patriot air defense system provided to Ukraine suffered damage in an attack earlier in the week but was still working. 

"The Patriot system remains operational" and the damage – caused by an unspecified projectile landing near it – is still being assessed, the official told AFP.

Ukraine repeatedly pushed for its supporters to provide the Patriot system to help shield against relentless Russian strikes targeting civilians and infrastructure, and the damaged battery is only one of two confirmed to have arrived in the country.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yury Ignat earlier said that "all is fine with the Patriot," but declined to specify if the sophisticated system had been damaged.

"The Patriot is in service," Ignat told AFP. "All is well."

The Russian defense ministry said Tuesday that its forces had struck a Patriot system in Kyiv with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile. Kyiv announced Ukraine's air defense shot down six of Russia's hypersonic missiles, but Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu rejected that claim.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who unveiled the Kinzhal in 2018, has termed it "an ideal weapon" that is extremely difficult to intercept.

Kyiv also said it downed a Kinzhal using a Patriot system in the first week of May, describing it as a "historic event."