Russian intense missile attack on Kyiv, and more Western weapons for Ukraine

Russia launched a highly intense missile and drone attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday (16 May).

Russian terror troops used drones, cruise and probably ballistic missiles, city officials said, as the Ukrainian capital suffered its eighth air assault in May.

The Russian invaders attacked Ukraine with 18 missiles and many Shahed drones. Ukrainian Army reported that all targets were shot down by the Air defenses.

As a result of the night attack of the Russian terror troops, there was destruction in Kyiv, and 4 buses and a garage were burned down.

Debris fell in several districts of Kyiv, causing fires. As we can see from the photo, the double-decker buses that Kyiv received from Berlin in Germany at the beginning of the year burned down.

Several people were injured. 13 firefighters units, 70 personnel, were involved in extinguishing fires.

“It was exceptional in its density – the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said on Telegram.

After weeks of relative calm, in late April, Russia resumed its terror tactic of long-range missile strikes on peaceful cities far from the front lines. Ukraine has repelled the vast majority of the missile attacks so far.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said falling debris set several cars on fire and damaged a building in the Solomyanskyi district in the capital’s West. Three people were injured.

Klitschko said that air defence systems were repelling a drone attack south of Boryspil. Boryspil, a town just southeast of Kyiv, is home to Ukraine’s major passenger airport, which is now closed.

Air raid sirens blared across nearly all of Ukraine.

Ukraine army advances in Bakhmut

Ukraine praised substantial battlefield advances as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy won commitments for new long-range drones in the UK to add to Western weapons supply for a counteroffensive against Russian invaders.

The Ukrainian army has started to push Russian invading forces back in and around the embattled town of Bakhmut, its first significant offensive operation since Ukrainians recaptured the southern city of Kherson in November.

In its battlefield update, Ukraine’s army General Staff said Russian invading troops were pressing efforts backed by heavy shelling to gain ground. Still, it had failed to advance around the village of Ivanivske near Bakhmut.

The battle for Bakhmut has become the longest and bloodiest of the war. It has symbolic significance for Moscow, which has no success to show for a winter campaign that cost tens of thousands of soldiers.

Ukrainian Armed Forces are now preparing a counteroffensive using hundreds of new tanks and armored vehicles sent by Western allies this year, aiming to recapture territories Moscow claims to have annexed.

The UK and France pledged more heavy weapons for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London on Monday, the latest stop in a tour to Rome, Berlin and Paris over the past three days, getting new guarantees of significant weapons supply.

Last week, the UK became the first Western country to offer Ukraine long-range cruise missiles, followed that up during Zelenskyy’s visit by pledging war drones that could strike at a range of 200 km.

Sunak’s government said it would soon start training Ukrainian pilots to fly fighter jets. French President Emmanuel Macron said that France was open to training Ukrainian pilots. Still, the French and Ukrainian Presidents had yet to discuss delivering warplanes.

The British Prime Minister said the war was at a “pivotal moment”, and London would remain steadfast.

Ukrainian soldiers drove Russian invading troops back from Kyiv and Kharkiv a year ago and recaptured ground in the second half of 2022, but have since endured continuous Russian assault while waiting for Western weapons to arrive.