One dead in Odessa as Putin fires ninth missile barrage at Ukraine in days…but ‘all shot down over Kiev AGAIN’
Vengeful Vladimir Putin has launched his ninth rocket fire into Ukraine in days as he intensifies his campaign to destroy Kiev.
But the Russian president blushed again when Ukraine claimed to have downed all of the deadly missiles aimed at the capital.
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One person was killed and two others injured in an attack on the Black Sea port city of Odessa, officials said.
Explosions rocked Ukraine as Russian strategic bombers were suspected of firing a series of cruise missiles over the Caspian Sea.
Russia later deployed reconnaissance drones over the capital, hoping to soak up the devastation wrought.
But the head of the Kiev military administration, Serhiy Popko, explained in a Telegram post that all enemy targets had been destroyed.
“A series of air strikes on Kiev, unprecedented in strength, intensity and variety, continues,” he said.
Most of the Russian missiles were shot down by air defense forces over the sea, although one industrial object was hit.
Falling debris from the destroyed artillery sparked a fire at a garage in Kyiv’s Darnytsya district, although no injuries were reported.
Popko said another fire also broke out at a non-residential building in eastern Desnyansky District, but gave no further details.
The neutralization of Putin’s ninth bombing raid on the Ukrainian capital comes after an intense airstrike a few days ago.
Moscow claimed to have blown up the $1.1 billion US Patriot missile system, which has proved a crucial piece of equipment to protect Kiev.
However, Ukraine said six “unstoppable” Kinzhal missiles were launched as the country made the most of the influx of Western defense systems.
Also known as the Russian Daggers, the KH-47s are said to be able to travel at 12 times the speed of sound – making them nearly impossible to detect and neutralize from a defensive position.
Kiev claimed to have thwarted a whole barrage of hypersonic missiles with the US-made Patriot air defense system.
The missiles, which can reach speeds of over 7,000 miles per hour and have been regularly launched by Putin in the Ukraine war, can be loaded with up to 1,000 pounds of explosives or even a nuclear warhead.
Putin himself has touted the Kinzhal as an unstoppable force that could rival even NATO — but now he only has 73 at his disposal.
Earlier this month, Ukraine claimed to have shot down a single Kinzhal over Kiev for the first time.
But Russia angrily insisted Monday’s missile and drone strikes hit all their intended targets.
War-hungry Putin is said to have ordered the unprecedented attacks this week in a furious response to Britain’s dispatching of “groundbreaking” Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.
The recent influx of aid to the battlefield enraged the President, and his spokesman vowed there would be an “appropriate response”.
The latest attacks are seen as a clear escalation as the world awaits Kiev’s much-anticipated counteroffensive – with suggestions they could launch a major operation and even push into Crimea.
Putin was dealt another blow on Thursday when a massive explosion derailed a train in another sabotage attack in the occupied territory.
Pictures show wagons falling over the embankment after the reported explosion near the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Russia has been hit by a wave of suspicious explosions, fires and more obvious acts of sabotage in recent months.
It is suspected that it is either the work of Russian partisans acting against Putin’s regime, or secret operations by Kiev.
And the recapture of Crimea is considered the most important goal for defeating Russia.
Putin illegally annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 in response to the revolution that turned Kiev westward.
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