Six killed in second day of major Russian airstrikes on Ukraine
Russian missile and drone strikes on a number of Ukrainian regions killed at least six people, officials said.
Three people were killed when a hotel was “wiped out” by a missile in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, regional officials said.
Five people were injured and one person was still missing after the strike, Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, which includes Kryvyi Rih, said on Telegram.
Separately, three people were killed in drone strikes in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.
Three people were also injured in the Zaporizhzhia region, and four were injured in a rocket attack in the northeastern Kharkiv region overnight, local officials said.
On Tuesday, a day after Moscow’s biggest air attack of the war on its neighbor, Ukraine shot down five of 10 incoming missiles and 60 of 81 drones, the air force said.
NATO-Ukraine Council to meet at Kyiv’s request on Wednesday
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will convene a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council on Wednesday at Kyiv’s request, an alliance spokesperson said.
“The meeting will be held at ambassadorial level,” said spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is to brief the allies’ representatives “on the battlefield situation and priority capability needs,” the spokesperson said, adding that NATO is “committed to further bolstering Ukraine’s defences.”
“Tomorrow’s meeting comes after recent waves of heavy Russian strikes against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure,” Dakhlallah said.
The NATO-Ukraine Council was established last year to enable closer coordination between the alliance and Kyiv.
Ukraine used F-16s against Russian air strikes, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his military used Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets to shoot down drones and missiles fired by Russia in recent attacks.
Earlier this month, Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had received the first batch of fighter jets promised by Western countries, but declined to say how many had been delivered.
“We destroyed already some missiles and drones using the F-16,” Zelenskyy said in English at a press conference in Kyiv, adding that Ukraine still needed more of the jets.
Ukraine’s air force has long relied on a fleet of ageing Soviet-era MIG-29 and Sukhoi jets, which are under increasing strain after more than two years of demanding combat operations.
