Russia carried out a wide-ranging aerial attack—using both missiles and drones—on “critical infrastructure” across Ukraine, Ukrainian officials reported on Dec. 29.
“This was a massive attack,” Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said in televised remarks.
In a social media post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Russia had struck targets across the country “with everything … in its arsenal.”
Upwards of 110 missiles had been fired, he said, most of which were downed by Ukrainian air defenses.
If confirmed, the attack represents one of the biggest single aerial barrages by Russia since launching its invasion of eastern Ukraine early last year.
In the capital, Kyiv, one person was killed when a Russian missile struck a warehouse, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a social media post.
Several residential buildings were also hit, a senior military official said.
In the western Lviv region, which borders Poland, Russian missiles struck a “critical infrastructure facility,” according to Mr. Zelenskyy’s office.
Lviv’s regional governor reported that a multi-story residential building had been damaged, leaving at least one person dead.
Meanwhile, in the southern port city of Odesa, three people were killed—and more than a dozen injured—when missiles struck a residential building, according to Odesa’s regional governor.
And in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, several facilities—including a transport depot—were likewise struck, the regional governor of Kharkiv said.
One person was killed and 11 injured, the governor said in a social media post.
According to Ukraine’s interior minister, one person was killed in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where several facilities came under missile attack.
Similar strikes were also reported in Ukraine’s central city of Dnipro.
In a statement, Ukraine’s energy ministry said the barrages had caused power outages in four regions of the country.
‘Powerful Blasts’
Since late last year, Russia has carried out intermittent aerial strikes on Ukrainian transport and energy infrastructure.Kyiv and its Western allies say the strikes target civilian populations and should, therefore, be viewed as “war crimes.”
Moscow, for its part, claims to be using high-precision munitions to avoid civilian casualties and insists the strikes serve an exclusively military purpose.
Russian officials, meanwhile, have yet to confirm the latest “massive” aerial attack reported by their Ukrainian counterparts.
Nevertheless, Russia’s TASS news agency cited eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen a “series of powerful blasts” in Kyiv on the morning of Dec. 29.
On the same day, Russian officials said Ukrainian forces had fired scores of munitions at Russia’s western Belgorod region over the previous 24 hours.
According to Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, mortar attacks and bomb-laden drones injured several civilians and damaged a number of residences.
Attacks on Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions, both of which share borders with Ukraine, occur on an almost daily basis, Russian officials say.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify claims made by either side.
‘Unidentified Aerial Object’ Over Poland
During the reported Russian barrages, Poland’s military claimed that an “unidentified aerial object” had entered Polish airspace from Ukrainian territory.“In the morning, an unidentified aerial object entered the airspace of the Republic of Poland from the side of the border with Ukraine,” the Polish military’s Operational Command said in a statement posted on social media.
“From the moment it crossed the border until the signal disappeared, it was observed by the radars of the country’s air-defense system,” according to the statement.
“In accordance with applicable procedures, the operational commander of the armed forces mobilized available forces and resources,” it added.
According to Polish press reports, local authorities have initiated a search for the object near the southern town of Hrubieszow.
“We received information that an object appeared on radar near Hrubieszow,” Krzysztof Komorski, governor of Poland’s Lublin region, said in a social media post.
“We have no confirmation that it fell within our region,” he added.
NATO member Poland shares a roughly 332-mile border with Ukraine.
Late last year, a missile landed in Polish territory amid a similar series of Russian barrages.
At the time, the Associated Press quoted an unnamed “U.S. intelligence official” who erroneously claimed that Russia had fired the missile.
Before being debunked, the report prompted fears of an imminent clash between Russia and NATO, which, under its founding charter, must defend member-states if they come under external attack.
It was later determined that Ukrainian forces had fired the errant missile.
