The massive Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine on the night from Wednesday to Thursday (16 April) once more highlights the importance of strengthening European resolve in support of the invaded country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, writing on X that it proved that US and European sanctions against Russia should not be weakened.
Russia launched more than 700 drones and missiles at Ukraine in multiple waves overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, killing at least 18 people in what local officials said was the deadliest attack in months.
Ukraine's air force said on Thursday morning that Russia had launched 659 drones and 44 cruise and ballistic missiles in the prior 24 hours.
It said that 636 drones and 31 missiles had been shot down - but there had been direct hits in 26 locations.
Officials said nine people had been killed in the southern port city of Odesa, five in the central city of Dnipro, and four - including a child - in the capital, Kyiv.
In Russia, two people - including a child - were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the southern Krasnodar region, Moscow said.
This comes after a brief ceasefire took place over Orthodox Easter last weekend - though both sides accused one another of violations.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In Kyiv, warning sirens jolted people awake at 02:30 local time on Thursday (23:30 GMT on Wednesday), followed soon after by the first explosions.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that a 12-year-old boy was among four people killed. Another 45 people were injured.
The mayor added that rescuers had pulled a mother and child from the ruins of a 16-storey residential building that collapsed in the city's central Podil district.
Four emergency medical workers were among those injured in the north of the capital.
In Dnipro, regional head Oleksandr Ganzha said four people were killed and dozen had been injured in the Russian attack - before the city's Mayor Borys Filatov said on Thursday that another body had been found.
In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, a drone strike injured a 77-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man, an official said.
Two cities in the south, Mykolaiv and Kherson, have been left without power, according to local officials.
source: commonspace.eu with BBC (London) and agencies
