December 29, 2023 - Russia launches largest air attack on Ukraine since full-scale invasion | CNN (2024)

A warehouse guard smokes a cigarette after air attacks on a warehouse in Kyiv, on December 29.

Russia launched the biggest air attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian military told CNN.

An unprecedented number of drones and missiles fired at targets across the country, killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 150 others.

Here’s what you should know:

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said on Friday that its air defense forces destroyed 13 Ukrainian missiles over Russia’s Belgorod region.

The attack was carried out using Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), the ministry said.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod region, said one person was killed and four wounded in the attack and “several air targets were shot down.”

Numerous private houses, cars and the city’s water supply system were damaged, according to Gladkov.

Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, reported on Friday that air defense forces intercepted nine Ukrainian drones over his region, adding that “an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft complex was shot down over the Starodubsky municipal district.”

Bogomaz said there were no casualties or damage following the incident.

Polish Deputy Foreign MinisterWładysław Teofil Bartoszewski summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Russian Federation, Andrei Ordash, on Friday, following “an unidentified airborne object” entering Polish airspace early Friday morning, the Polish foreign ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, Ordash was handed a note requesting an explanation for the violation of Polish airspace, which the ministry said was a Russian missile. Ordash said the note “contained only unfounded accusations,” adding that “the Polish side refused to provide evidence that the missile was of Russian origin,” according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.

Ordash went on to say that Russia “will not give explanations” concerning the incident “until concrete evidence is presented.”

This post was updated with comments from the Russian chargé d’affaires.

A 53-year-old primary school teacher was among those killedin Zaporizhzhia on Friday, following Russia’s large-scale attack on Ukraine earlier today, local authorities said.

Education Minister Oksen Lisovyi offered condolences to the teacher’s family and friends in a Facebook post, calling it “a tragedyfor the entire educational family.”

“There are no words to express our condolences over the unexpected and tragic death of a woman, a teacher with a capital T, who, through her actions and deeds, her mind, raised many generations of students, skilfully taught them wisdom and responsibility,” the school where the teacher, Oksana Vorobyova, taught in Zaporizhzhia said in a post on Facebook, describing her as “wise, balanced, sensitive, kind,” who “never forgot about the problems of those around her.”

A man walks next to a car destroyed during a Russian missile and drone strike in Kyiv on Friday.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday urged the international community to respond to Russia’s latest aerial assault on Ukraine — the biggest since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine on Friday called for anurgentUnited Nations Security Councilmeeting.

Zelensky added that he will continue to “strengthen our air defense” and vowed to keep working to “bring the war” back to Russia.

The Ukrainian president also thanked emergency services and staff who assisted in rescue operations following the aerial attacks in many parts of the country Friday.

The attacks left at least 31 people dead and over 150 injured, damaging civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine has called for anurgentUnited Nations Security Councilmeeting followingRussia’sbiggest air attack on the country since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, according toUkrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

The presidency of the UN Security Council rotates on a monthly basis, and Ecuador holds the responsibility for December.

A year after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky secured bipartisan support from the United States for its defense against Russia’s full-scale invasion, the outlook looks much more grim. A long-anticipated Ukrainian offensive in the south has made scant progress. Russia appears to have weatheredinternational sanctions,for now, and has converted its economy into a war machine.

The mood in Moscow seems grimly determined: The goals of the “special military operation” will be achieved, and the fighting will continue until that happens.

RussianPresident Vladimir Putin is relishing the much more partisan atmosphere in Washington, where many in the Republican Party are questioning the purpose of sending Ukraine another $61 billion worth of aid as requested by President Joe Biden’s administration, assessing that it will achieve little on the battlefield.

At his first year-end news conference since the conflict began, Putin scoffed: “Ukraine produces almost nothing today, everything is coming from the West, but the free stuff is going to run out some day, and it seems it already is.”

Zelensky — who, by his own recent admission, is tired — has an ever-harder job as Ukraine’s chief salesman, with events in the Middle East diverting attention from Ukraine as the number-one international crisis.

On the first anniversary of the invasion, hepredictedthat “2023 will be the year of our victory!” He’s unlikely to make the same optimistic forecast for the coming year.

Read the full analysis here.

Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, speaks to the media following a national security meeting on Friday.

Poland’s most senior military officer said that “all indications” point to the airborne object that flew through Polish airspace on Friday being a Russian missile.

According to the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, radar indicates that a Russian missile entered and then left Polish airspace, the official Polish news agency PAP said.

“Polish airspace was violated by an object detected by our systems. I want to assure you of good coordination and cooperation; both Polish and our allies’ systems were activated,” according to the head of the Ministry of National Defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.

The extensive Russian attacks on Ukraine – some of which were aimed at locations close to the border with Poland — had not been a surprise, said Gen. Maciej Klisz, the operational commander of the Polish Armed Forces. “We had both national and allied planes in the air. Therefore, the entire development of the situation was monitored by the operational command since late at night yesterday.”

Remember: In November 2022, a “Russian-made” missile struck NATO member Poland, killing two people. The missile landed outside the rural Polish village of Przewodow, close to the Ukrainian border.

US President JoeBidensaid Russia’s latest aerial assault on Ukraine — the largest since the full-scale invasion began — serves as a reminder of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions in the country.

He used the opportunity to call again on Congress to pass additional assistance to Ukraine, saying US-provided defense systems had intercepted many of the Russian drones and missiles launched Friday.

“The American people can be proud of the lives we have helped to save and the support we have given Ukraine as it defends its people, its freedom, and its independence,” he wrote. “But unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defense systems Ukraine needs to protect its people.”

Bidenhas requested nearly $60 billion in new assistance for Ukraine, but the funding has stalled amid negotiations over toughening US immigration rules.

Lawmakers left Washington without agreement on the new funding.

Bidensought in his statement to underscore the global ramifications of Ukraine’s fight: “Thestakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine,” he wrote. “They affect the entirety of the NATOAlliance,the security of Europe, and the future of the Transatlantic relationship.”

Missile over Poland: US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the Polish secretary of state on Friday that the US stands in solidarity as it investigates a missile that temporarily entered its airspace during Russia’s onslaught.

Sullivan “pledged technical assistance as needed and assured his Polish counterpart that PresidentBidenis following this issue closely,” a White House readout said.

The Polish military says that in the early hours of Friday “an unidentified airborne object” entered Polish airspace from Ukrainian territory. “All indications” signal that it was a Russian missile, according to Poland’s most senior military officer.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters work on the site of a building damaged after a Russian attack in Kyiv, on Friday.

Authorities continue to update casualty numbers across Ukraine after Russia launched its biggest air attack since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

So far, 31 people have been reported killed, according to regional and national officials:

In this still from video, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyvisits the city of Avdiivka, Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to troops fighting in one of the most fiercely contested parts of the eastern Donetsk region: the ruined city of Avdiivka.

Video released by the Ukrainian Presidency showed Zelensky standing on a muddy track with the town’s name behind him. Two detonations can be heard in the distance as the president speaks. He is also shown presenting medals to troops in an underground bunker.

“It is hard. It is pain and losses. And these are the people who keep Ukraine alive,” the president continued. “Life is being fought for here.”

Zelensky said his team “extended Christmas and New Year greetings to the military” and shared his “immense gratitude to all the relatives, to every family of our heroes.”

Some background: Avdiivka has been subjected to relentless Russian attacks in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces warned that Russia could concentrate its forces such that Avdiivka “will have the same fate as Bakhmut,” referring to the long-contested eastern city that Russia claimed to finally seize last spring.

Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyiadded that, depending on how the battle for Avdiivka develops, the Ukrainian military would assess whether to withdraw from the town in order to save soldiers’ lives.

Earlier this month, Zelensky called the fighting inAvdiivkaan “onslaught” and said the battle could in many ways “determine the overall course of the war.”

The United Kingdom is sending “hundreds of air defense missiles” to Ukraine, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on Friday, after Russia’sbiggest air attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion.

Shapps called Russia’s latest attack on Ukraine “a desperate and futile attempt to regain momentum,” urging the“free world to come together and redouble our efforts to get Ukraine what they need to win.”

A view shows a maternity hospital ward damaged during a Russian missile strike in Dnipro, Ukraine, on Friday.

Video from the Ukrainian city of Dnipro shows extensive damage to a maternity hospital after a Russian missile strike early Friday.

If the missile made impact even closer to the hospital — and had staff not responded quickly to air raid warnings — there would likely have been significant casualties, according to Ukrainian officials. Twelve pregnant women and four newborn babies were not harmed.

Medical staff at the hospital moved all the patients to a shelter as soon as air raid alarms sounded, said Serhii Lysak, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region military administration.

“Windows were smashed in the building and the ceilings were broken. But all the patients and medical staff are safe,” said Iryna Kulbach, the head of the obstetrics department at the hospital.

Lysak said an apartment building across the street from the hospital was badly damaged, but the family living there took shelter in a small corridor.

The father, who gave his name as Yevhen, said: “We were sitting here in the corner when the strike happened. My wife and my kid were very scared. I held their ears. Everything was just flying.”

Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov recounted the moment he heard about the hospital being struck.

At least 30 people were wounded in the missile strikes on Dnipro Friday, according to Ukrainian officials. Twenty of them are in hospitals, and at least six people in Dnipro have been confirmed killed.

Dnipro is located along a major river in central Ukraine and is one of the country’s largest industrial cities.

Three more bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of a warehouse struck by a Russian missile early Friday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The warehouse was in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the city.

Kyiv’s death toll from the attack has risen to seven, Klitschko said on Telegram.

One of Ukraine’s most celebrated basketball players and coaches was killed in the Russian missile attacks early Friday, Ukrainian officials said.

Viktor Kobzystyi — who played for Ukraine twice in the European Championships, then became a leading coach who twice won the Ukrainian national championship — was killed in Lviv, according to the Basketball Federation of Ukraine.

Anton Nikulin, an official on the Lviv City Council, also confirmed Kobzystyi’s death.

In a six-hour period early Friday, Russia targeted the western city of Lviv with at least 15 missiles and 14 drones, according to Maksym Kozytskyi, the head of Lviv region military administration. Ten of the missiles were intercepted.

At least 17 people, including one child, were wounded, and five people were hospitalized in Lviv, officials said.

In the early hours of Friday, “an unidentified airborne object” entered Polish airspace from Ukrainian territory, the Polish military said.

“From the moment it crossed the border until the signal disappeared, it was observed by the radars of the country’s air defense system,” Poland’s Armed Forces Operational Command said.

Polish authorities provided no further details about the object.

Meanwhile, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on X, formerly Twitter, that he spoke to Polish President Andrzej Duda about the “missile incident.”

“We will remain in contact as the facts are established. NATO remains vigilant,” he said.

Remember: In November 2022, a missile struck Polish territory near the village of Przewodow, close to the border with Ukraine. Two people were killed. US officials later determined it was a Ukrainian S-300 air defense missile.

In this November 4 photo, Ursula von der Leyen and Volodymyr Zelenskyi speak during joint press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Following Russia’s massive air assault, European officials vowed to stand with Ukraine for the long run.

Here’s what some of them are saying:

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU will continue to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

She said: “We have stood by Ukraine since day one of Russia’s war of aggression. With almost €85 billion ($94 billion) in financial, humanitarian and military support.”

The latest proposed package of EU aid to Ukraine was blocked by Hungary earlier this month, but a majority of members are exploring the use of different mechanisms to continue providing financial assistance to Ukraine.

After an EU summit this month, von der Leyen said, “We are working very hard of course to have a result where there is an agreement of 27 member states.”

“Work on potential alternatives” was also underway in case unanimity could not be reached, she added.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the latest widespread Russian attacks on Ukraine show that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will stop at nothing” to achievehis goal of “eradicating freedom and democracy.”

Sunak was responding to a post on X by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he said Friday that “Russia used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal” to launch attacks, targeting a maternity ward, educational facilities, a shopping mall, multi-story residential buildings, private homes and other structures.

Josep Borrell, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, echoed that the European Union would stand with Ukraine for “as long as it takes.”

“Overnight, Russia launched one of the largest attacks since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine against cities and the population. It was yet another cowardly and indiscriminate targeting of schools, a metro station and a hospital,” he wrote on X.

The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs condemned Russia’s “strategy of terror in Ukraine.”

France pledged its continued support to Ukraine, promising to provide the war-torn country “with the necessary assistance to enable it to exercise its legitimate defence.”

Moldova’s PresidentMaia Sandu said Friday that Russia’s latest attack on Ukraine “underscores the urgent need” to boost Ukraine’s air defenses.

“Deeply disturbed by Russia’s massive air attack on Ukrainian cities today.My thoughts are with all those affected this morning and every day of this brutal war,” Sandu said in a post.

“Today’s aggression underscores the urgent need to bolster Ukraine’s air defense capabilities to protect lives,” she added.

Without referring directly to the strikes early Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said the Russian forces carried out 50 group strikes and one mass strike this week.

“In the period from December 23 to 29 this year, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out 50 group strikes and one mass strike with high-precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles” on military targets in Ukraine, it said.

In this April 2023 photo, US Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, visits a port in Izmail, Ukraine.

USAmbassadortoUkraineBridget Brink called formorefundingforKyivon Friday, asUkraineexperienced the biggest Russianairattacksince the beginningofthe full-scaleinvasion.

Brink’s comments come amid growing uncertainty about additional aid from the United States and stalled negotiationsinCongress.

On Wednesday, theUSState Department announced the last military aid packageof$250 million, until Congress reaches an agreement about additionalfunding.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Kyiv warned Americans Friday that it “anticipates there may be an increase in Russian drone and missile attacks during the New Year holiday weekend.”

In a new security alert, the embassy advised Americans to:

Americans are advised not to travel to Ukraine due to the war.

Russia is fighting Ukrainian civilians — women, children and elderly, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said after Russia launched its biggest aerial attack since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“The crimes that Russia has committed in Ukraine today are its revenge for its inability to turn the tide of the battle in the fight against the Ukrainian defense forces,” the Foreign Ministry added.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on X, formerly Twitter, that he wished the “loud sound of explosions” heard in Ukraine today “could be heard all around the world. In all major capitals, headquarters, and parliaments, which are currently debating further support for Ukraine.”

“These sounds are what Russia really has to say … Only greater firepower can silence Russian terror,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia used “nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal” in the massive wave of missile and drone attacks carried out early Friday against multiple targets across the country.

Zelensky said on Telegram that Russia used “‘Kinzhals,’ S-300s, cruise missiles, and drones. Strategic bombers launched X-101/X-505 missiles.”

Zelensky said a total of around 110 missiles were fired, with the majority of them being shot down. It’s unclear whether that total included the 36 drones also reported to have been used by Russian forces.

Firefighters pass by debris of a building following Russia's missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday.

The Presidential Administration in Ukraine reported Friday that at least 26 people had been killed and 120 injured following the latest wave of Russian missile attacks.

“In total, 26peoplewerekilledandmore than 120 wounded,” said Olexiy Kuleba, Deputy Head of the Office of the President on X.

The number includes updated casualty figures in Odesa, ZaporizhzhiaandKyiv, according to local officials.

Nearly 50 homes, as well as apartment buildings, a school and a shopping mall had been damaged or destroyed. A maternity hospital in the city of Dnipro was also extensively damaged.

Kyiv residents told CNN of their experiences when the wave of attacks began:

Smoke rises over a residential building after a Russian missile and drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 29.

Preliminary information indicates Russia used about 158 weapons to launch its largest wave of missile and drone attacks in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of the country nearly two years ago, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

The attack targeted Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as well as Lviv, Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and other Ukrainian regions, the ministry added.

A shopping center, apartment buildings and a metro station were among the places hit, the ministry noted.

“Dozens of people were killed and injured,” and searches continued in the rubble, the foreign ministry said.

The death toll across Ukraine is rising while rescue efforts continue in several cities.

Here’s the information received from regional officials so far:

Here’s a look at a map of Ukraine: