Russia pounds Ukraine with air strikes

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ukraine war

By Isabel Vincent

Russia pounded Ukraine with a barrage of 40 missiles and drones Saturday, according to reports.

The air attack started at 5 a.m. local time and lasted three hours, sending residents scrambling to air raid shelters in the country’s southeast, including the cities of Kyiv and Lviv, and in the north.

The Ukraine Air Force said the Russians launched 37 missiles and three drones.

Ukrainian forces were able to shoot down eight missiles, and reported that many of the aerial strikes did not reach their targets.

“Over 20 launched air attack weapons did not reach their targets due to extensive electronic warfare countermeasures,” the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement on social media.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Telegram that its airstrikes had hit “Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities” that produce gunpowder, drones and other war materiel.

In Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine, missile fragments caused damage to unoccupied residential buildings, according to reports.

“The fragments of an enemy missile caused destruction in the private residential area of Chernihiv. Luckily, no people were injured,” the police wrote on Telegram.