Putin hits Kyiv with ‘exceptionally complex’ simultaneous attack with drones and ballistic missiles

Russia launched a brutal drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s capital early Tuesday, just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would return from a European tour with a replenished arsenal.

The Kyiv city military administration said Tuesday’s attack – the eighth on the capital this month – involved drones, cruise missiles and likely ballistic missiles launched “from several directions at once,” describing the operation as an “exceptional complex attack’.

Kiev’s busy Solomyansky district, home to the international airport, was the worst damaged, with a fire breaking out in a non-residential building.

According to Telegram reports from Mayor Vitali Klitschko, three people were injured in Solomyansky, while rocket debris fell in the Obolonsky district, a leafy suburb.

The latest attack on Kiev follows Zelensky’s collection of a slew of new arms supplies pledges from Berlin, Paris and London, deepening a military arrangement between the West and Ukraine that has left Russia at a disadvantage.

The Kyiv city military administration said Tuesday’s attack — the eighth on the capital this month — involved drones, cruise missiles and likely ballistic missiles launched “simultaneously from different directions.”

Emergency services try to contain damage after a Russian missile strike, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 16, 2023

A firefighter works at a vehicle parking lot damaged by remnants of Russian missiles, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kiev, Ukraine, May 16, 2023

Emergency services try to contain damage after a Russian missile strike, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 16, 2023

Ukrainian air defense systems are launched to disable incoming missiles

After his whirlwind tour of major European capitals, Zelensky tweeted Monday night that he was “returning home with new defense packages.”

It is widely believed that Ukrainian forces are gearing up for a long overdue counter-offensive against Russian forces, with gains already claimed around the Bakhmut focal point.

But Zelensky has yet to succeed in his coveted goal of employing Western fighter jets to take command of the skies, even though British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced preparations to open a flight school to train Ukrainian pilots on Monday .

France has also offered to train Ukrainian fighter pilots, though President Emmanuel Macron has ruled out sending fighter jets to Kiev.

And as Russia’s ally China vie to act as a peace broker, sending an envoy to Kiev this week, Moscow’s reported attempt to acquire more drones carrying military collaborator Iran has sparked anger in Washington.

“This is a large-scale defense partnership that is damaging to Ukraine, to the Middle East region and to the international community,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday, adding that further sanctions would be imminent. be announced.

Zelensky’s tour of providing military aid to make his troops more combative began in Italy, with weekend visits to France and Germany, followed by a Monday stop in the UK.

France offered dozens more light tanks and armored vehicles, while Germany said it was preparing a new military package worth 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion) — the largest yet for Ukraine.

On Monday, at British Prime Minister Checkers’ estate outside London, Zelensky won the promise of hundreds of additional air defense missiles and long-range attack drones.

Dressed in his trademark fatigues, Zelensky gave Sunak a bear hug after stepping out of a Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter.

He said the crisis was a matter of “security, not only for Ukraine, it is important for all of Europe.”

Sunak noted that the Checkers meeting came ahead of a meeting of Council of Europe leaders in Iceland and a G7 summit in Japan, while lashing out at Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The front lines of Putin’s offensive war may be in Ukraine, but the fault lines stretch across the globe,” Sunak said.

Russia said the new British weapons would only cause “further destruction” and claimed to have downed a Storm Shadow cruise missile that Britain said it was supplying last week, during the West’s first deployment of long-range missiles to Ukraine.

The timing and focus of Ukraine’s high-stakes counter-offensive remain unclear, but Zelensky’s tour of European capitals underlined the importance of securing Western heavy weapons and ammunition.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) is welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron (C) upon his arrival at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on May 14, 2023

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right, receives Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Checkers, the Prime Minister’s official country residence, in Aylesbury, England, Monday, May 15, 2023

The two leaders greeted each other with a hug after Ukraine’s president landed in Chinook helicopters

Zelensky was in Britain on Monday for his whirlwind European tour, as Kiev’s stalwart ally pledged to give Ukraine hundreds of additional missiles and strike drones in an attempt to change the course of the war.

The head of Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, again accused the Russian military of inaction around Bakhmut

On the ground, fighting appears to be intensifying after months of stalemate.

Kiev said the southern region of Kherson was under “massive enemy attacks,” with several residential buildings damaged.

Meanwhile, seven people, including a senior Moscow-installed official and a teenager, were injured in a blast in Russian-controlled Lugansk, local officials said.

Ukrainian troops say they have captured more than 10 Russian positions on the outskirts of Bakhmut, where a fierce battle for control began nearly a year ago.

Russia said two of its military commanders were killed in fighting near the city.

The head of Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, again accused the Russian military of inaction around Bakhmut.

But he dismissed a Washington Post report as “laughable” that he had offered information about Russian troop positions to Ukraine in January in exchange for a delay for Wagner’s troops.

In another sign of tensions with the West, Russia said Monday it scrambled a Su-27 fighter jet over the Baltic Sea to intercept two planes, one German and one French, which Moscow said had attempted to “violate” its airspace.

“After the foreign military aircraft were diverted from the state border of the Russian Federation, the Russian fighter jet returned safely to its airbase,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.