At least 18 people have been killed in Ukraine as Russia exploits Kyiv’s lack of missile interceptors in another wave of attacks.
The majority of people died in the capital, while at least one person was killed in the surrounding region.
MacAlpine said Russia’s escalating missile attacks across Ukraine were causing growing concern as Ukraine faces a shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles.
Poland’s military command said it had mobilised aircraft and activated air defences to protect its airspace, particularly in areas bordering Ukraine.
New defence ministerThe attacks came a day after Ukraine’s parliament confirmed Yevhenii Khmara as the country’s new defence minister.
Moscow continued to target the capital and surrounding regions throughout the day following overnight strikes.
At least 18 people have been killed in Ukraine as Russia exploits Kyiv’s lack of missile interceptors in another wave of attacks.
Moscow launched several jet-powered drones at Kyiv Oblast, including the country’s capital, during the day on Thursday, killing at least two people.
The strikes followed ballistic missile attacks that claimed at least 16 lives and caused explosions to ring out across several districts of Kyiv earlier in the day. Buildings were also shaken and car alarms set off, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Several districts have been impacted by the strikes, including Holosiivskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi.
In Solomianskyi, a nine-storey residential building collapsed and caught fire, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. He said a children’s hospital in the district was also damaged, with windows shattered and cars on the premises.
“People are trapped” at another residential building, he added, with parts of Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi also without electricity.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said fires had broken out in residential buildings and warehouses.
It said rescuers were at the scene of the attacks and had extricated at least two people from the rubble of collapsed buildings.
The majority of people died in the capital, while at least one person was killed in the surrounding region.
An overnight attack lasted nine hours and also damaged warehouses in Boryspil, outside Kyiv, authorities said.
Russia launched at least 44 missiles, of which 39 were shot down, according to Ukraine’s air force.
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Moscow said it hit “military-industrial facilities, a transportation and logistics centre, and warehouses” in Kyiv city and region.
Reporting from the capital, Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine said air raid alarms continued to sound in the city on Thursday morning.
“We know that two fuel industrial facilities were hit,” she said.
MacAlpine said Russia’s escalating missile attacks across Ukraine were causing growing concern as Ukraine faces a shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles. The lack of sufficient air defences will be “a problem when Russia begins to target energy infrastructure, sites that will keep the heat and electricity on this winter”, she said.
The attacks also prompted security responses in neighbouring NATO member states.
Poland’s military command said it had mobilised aircraft and activated air defences to protect its airspace, particularly in areas bordering Ukraine.
Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said radar systems detected aerial targets near the Ukrainian border overnight, prompting the scrambling of two Spanish jets deployed on NATO missions and a Romanian air force helicopter.
The ministry said a drone entered Romanian airspace near Galati before crashing in an unpopulated area in Tulcea county.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it had shot down 726 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning over several regions, as well as over the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.
New defence minister
The attacks came a day after Ukraine’s parliament confirmed Yevhenii Khmara as the country’s new defence minister. Lawmakers approved his appointment 312-2, well above the 226 votes needed.
Khmara is a career intelligence official who rose through the ranks of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). He previously led its Alpha special operations unit, whose personnel have reportedly been linked to Operation Spiderweb, last year’s drone attack deep inside Russian territory.
Addressing parliament before the vote, Khmara pledged to “do everything to defend Ukraine, to reduce Russia’s war potential as much as possible, and to force the enemy into a just peace”. Zelenskyy called the confirmation a sign that “Ukraine needs more strength. And it will have it.”
Not everyone was convinced, however. Opposition lawmaker Solomiia Bobrovska said pulling Khmara from intelligence work was “a mistake”, even while praising him personally.
Khmara’s confirmation fills the vacancy left by former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. He was ousted in July after a public rupture with the armed forces commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskii, who was also replaced weeks later amid public pressure.
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The rupture reverberated further when, a day before Khmara’s confirmation, Fedorov released a video calling for Ukraine to move towards holding elections, currently suspended under wartime law.
He argued that the country faces a “systemic crisis of governance”.
The political fallout spilled into the streets on Wednesday, as dozens of demonstrators rallied in Kyiv in support of Fedorov’s call.
“It’s like we are in a trap,” protester Emilia, who gave only her first name, told Al Jazeera. “Because we have not had any elections, so the members of parliament, the people who are in the executive branch of power, they understand that, ‘Hmm, I can sit here and do whatever I want.'”
Several others said they backed the idea of renewing the country’s leadership. But they were sceptical that a real vote could be held while the war continues.
Ukrainian law currently bars elections during wartime, and no major political figure has publicly pushed back on that since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s term ended in May 2024, but the country has postponed its presidential election while martial law remains in effect.
