Ukraine: At least 18 people dead after most intense Russian air strikes since war began | DW News

At least 18 people have died and many more are injured after what officials call this War’s largest Russian Air Assault on Ukraine Keef says more than 150 missiles and drones were used to strike cities across the country including the capital hitting vital infrastructure industry and Military facilities here’s a look at the widespread

Destruction homes destroyed by a Russian attack in the southern city of Odessa one of many in what Ukraine has called the largest Russian Air Assault on the country since the beginning of the war with devastating results elsewhere in eastern nipro Russian strikes have left several dead and wounded shelling also destroying

This maternity hospital a timely air Alert in the area allowing many to evacuate it was very loud it had never happened before since the beginning of the war everything was blown away windows and doors were smashed the biggest strike hitting this shopping center with emergency crews scrambling to find those

Missing and destruction also in the western city of laviv where several homes and schools have been destroyed there’s a lot of damage 10 residential buildings practically all of them are damaged in some all windows flew out doors are warped our community school is blown into pieces these images are from the capital

Keev a warehouse burned down by Russian strikes in the early hours many took shelter in a metro station waiting for the end of the shelling Ukrainian officials say they managed to intercept more than 80 missiles and around 30 drones but Russia says all Targets were hit the Massive

Attack has left many in shock Ukraine says after this bombardment any talk of a truce with Moscow appears to be impossible the commander-in chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces says this was Russia’s largest attack from the air since the start of the war DW Sonia fer has more that’s that’s right Ben I mean

This is a really huge um coordinated attack um um across the country I am actually standing here in the podil district in keev and behind me you can probably see this Warehouse that is still smoldering the smoke blowing in the air uh what we know is that this Warehouse belongs to a pharmaceutical

Pharmaceutical company and it was hit earlier this morning by a missile there were workers inside when that happened people here have said that it looks like a direct hit given the extent of the damage part of the building has collapsed there are people still trapped uh under the rubble there’s there’s a

Really strong uh accurate uh smell in the air it kind of smells like chemicals on fire and the search and rescue operation as you can probably see is still going on uh people um the mayor of uh ke has said two people are now uh confirmed to have uh been killed four

People have been rescued from the rubble um there are 28 people now confirmed injured many of them are hospitalized but as I said the search and rescue operation continues because um the teams here fear that people are still trapped under the rubble there are many emergency teams and the fire Services

Here on standby and a lot of people here really visibly in shock andon I mentioned there several cities were targeted across the country that’s correct I mean reports are still coming in of um the exact number of uh casualties and and and you know damage to infrastructure and

Facilities uh really from across the country and authorities here are really kind of bracing themselves expecting the Deb toll to rise in some places we’re hearing of the eastern city of nepro where where the mayor has said five people are now confirmed dead 25 people injured in a rocket attack in laiv in

The west 15 people have been injured in a rocket attack earlier today laiv was also targeted uh by a barrage of attack drones the Shahed drones where um the ukrainians say you know a debris of a drone that was shot down by the air defense hit a high-rise residential

Building and and that building was on fire we saw footage earlier of these people being evacuated from there so really kind of a grim uh picture Bend this morning across Ukraine DW correspondent F in ke thank you very much for bringing us up to date and

Let’s take you now to Frank lewit a military analyst based in Oxford Ukraine says a record number of missiles were fired what’s your take on the scale and timing of this assault well good morning Ben we’ve been expecting something like this and it’s been building for some time Russia’s

Been stockpiling new missiles cruise missiles and of course it’s uh it’s it’s husbanding the stocks it has so today the ukrainians say about 160 missiles and drones were fired most of the drones were shot down and they used as Deco well not so much as decoys but to draw

The defenses up and again most of the missiles uh ballistic missiles and various other forms of um of Strike weapons most of them were shot down so we’re looking at about 65% shut down but that’s a low proportion for Ukraine so it’s a it essentially what happened here

Let’s be candid is Ukraine’s air defenses were overwhelmed and that’s the objective of this uh of this strike by Russia it’s not so much to hit targets that’s a plus it’s to deplete Ukraine’s air defenses which are the most effective portion of which of course are Western supplied but Frank is that’s

Something Russia can keep up well analysts say that the Russians have built up a stockpile just to give you one example of about a thousand cruise missiles ukrainians say they fired I think 30 or 40 tonight they can keep this up for for several months and

The question is really can they keep it up and can the ukrainians match it and that’s pretty much the the the top and bottom of it really who who is going to be depleted first is it going to be Russia’s uh strike missiles or Ukraine’s defensive forces and to a very great

Degree that depends on the uh level which the West is going to be able to resupply uh Ukraine’s anti-aircraft missile ammunition you also mentioned the type of missiles here I believe x22 missiles which are extremely hard to intercept are also uh being used deployed by the

Russians yes the x22 uh are ex Soviet missiles they were originally designed actually to attack aircraft car caros with nuclear warheads they amount to they’re just slightly slower than Hypersonic missiles they the problem is that they’re extremely fast on the runin about Mark 4.5 and the only missiles

That can address those that can uh challenge them are Patriots and Italian French samp tees which are which are very similar to the Patriots and uh I don’t know how many were fired or how many were hit I the ukrainians said by the way earlier in the year they hadn’t

Managed to intercept any I don’t know if that’s the case later on but clearly they find it very difficult to intercept those they are by the essentially Hypersonic missiles and that’s why they’re so effective Frank the other thing is that these attacks come a day after Ukraine’s President Vladimir

Selinski thank the US for its latest military aid package what difference could it now make on the battlefield well not just on the battlefield of course here as I mentioned earlier one of the key categories is air defenses but the answer to your question is that decisive

I think this is something the ukrainians would concede and I think any honest analysts would say that the ukrainians will find it very difficult to resist Russia’s assaults both in the air on the ground uh and on the ground without it it’s absolutely decisive but it’s not

Just the usual drip feed of a quarter of a million a quarter of a billion dollars every month or so what need what’s needed here is a long-term uh strategy a long-term approach to not just reinforcing Ukraine’s existing forces but also developing them into the future

As a deterrent Force as the years go on and right now we’ve not seen that we’ve not seen that the last two years but the answer is decisive it’s absolutely essential uhhuh on another front a possible truce Ukraine’s foreign Ministry says these attacks prove there can be no talk of a ceasefire with

Moscow Where Do We Go From Here don’t see why why they show that any more than any they demonstrate anything else other than than reminding us all of the perilous n perilous state in which Ukraine finds itself and has found itself for the last two years uh

Look nobody knows what’s going on in the background I suspect there are no talks at the moment Putin’s got his tail up as they say at the moment but that may not Remain the case for long we will see I don’t know I don’t think anybody knows except the protagonists and they’re not

Saying you heard it from Frank lewit their military analyst thank you very much for being on DW again thank you Ben

At least 18 people have died and many more injured, after what officials call this war’s largest Russian air assault on Ukraine. Kyiv says more than a 150 missiles and drones were used to strike cities across the country – including the capital – hitting vital infrastructure, industry and military facilities.

Chapters:

0:00 Background
4:38 Frank Ledwidge, military analyst

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutschewelleenglish?sub_confirmation=1

For more news go to: http://www.dw.com/en/
Follow DW on social media:
►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deutschewellenews/
►Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwnews
►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dwnews
►Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/dwnews_hangout
Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie: https://www.youtube.com/dwdeutsch
#ukraine #ukrainewar #russia

4 comments
Leave a Reply