KYIV — Russian air attacks killed 12 people in Kyiv and the surrounding region early Tuesday, authorities said, the sixth straight day of intense strikes on the capital and the first school morning of the new year for millions of Ukrainian children.
Eight died in the city, six of them employees of the state railway Ukrzaliznytsia after a ballistic missile hit a depot. Four more were killed in Boryspil, including a 26-year-old Indian citizen, Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivsky said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said nearly 350 rescue workers were deployed in Kyiv and the region and that Russia had used “a significant number of jet drones and ballistic missiles.”
Ukraine’s air force said the assault began at 6 p.m. Monday with ballistic, cruise, and anti-radar missiles plus 218 drones and decoys, about a third of them jet-powered. The attack also hit Odesa and damaged the Orlivka ferry crossing on the Romanian border. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha again asked allies for air defenses and energy support as Kyiv runs short of Patriot interceptors.
At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation sitting in Bishkek, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin that every day of war “pushes humanity back.” Putin, asked about talks, said Kyiv was asking to negotiate and added, “We don’t negotiate with terrorists.” Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at Russia’s Ust-Luga export port. The Associated Press reported the sixth-day barrage from Kyiv.
Sources: The Associated Press; BBC; Reuters.
