INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia fired dozens of missiles and drones at Ukraine on Wednesday in a "massive" early morning attack that killed at least five people and
calling on its Western allies to ramp up supplies of much-needed military aid, including air defenses.A strike on the capital Kyiv killed
four people when a high-rise residential building was hit, triggering a large fire and engulfing its top floors in black smoke."Another
massive attack against our country," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media.Missile and drone attacks were
also recorded in the northeast and south of the country as well as in the western Lviv region, hundreds of kilometers from the frontlines.At
least four people were killed in the hit to the residential building in Kyiv, while one person was killed in the southern Mykolaiv region,
officials said.Ukraine's commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny said Russia used drones, cruise, ballistic and anti-aircraft missiles in the
missiles.At least 35 people were injured in Kyiv, the city administration said
Another three were injured in the Kyiv region and two in the northeastern city of Kharkiv.Russia's Defense Ministry said later on
Wednesday it had launched an aerial attack of missiles and drones against Ukrainian "military-industrial" facilities
It said its objectives had been achieved and all targets hit.Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas in Ukraine, despite
killed since Russia invaded in February 2022.'Under the rubble'The strike on an 18-story residential building in Kyiv's southern
Golosiivskyi district blew out windows across several floors, and sent dark smoke cascading into the sky from the destroyed facade.Some 60
people were evacuated, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.An AFP journalist saw 13 ambulances and nine fire engines at the site on
Wednesday morning, with firefighters in the building putting out the blaze."There are probably dead people under the rubble," Klymenko had
warned earlier.Resident Dmytro, 31, told AFP he feared his wife had been killed in the attack.After first bringing their child down to
safety after the strike, the building had filled with smoke and emergency workers stopped him from trying to go back up to collect
her."Where there is the hole, my apartment is to the left
I was covered with shrapnel ..
she had many injuries," he said.'Ukraine needs help'As rescuers were working in Kyiv, Zelensky's top aide branded Russian President
Vladimir Putin a "criminal" in a post on social media."Russian missiles
Again a residential building
This is what they spend their money on
Ukraine needs help," Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said.Almost 30,000 people were also left without power in Kyiv, the energy
ministry said.Zelensky said Ukraine would "certainly respond" to the strikes.In the southern Mykolaiv region, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said
the attack stripped roofs off 20 houses and damaged gas and water pipes in the port city, where one person was killed.The attack came as EU
diplomacy chief Josep Borrell was making a visit to the capital.He went to an air-raid shelter in his hotel during the attack, an AFP
