Kyiv endures ‘night of hell’ as Russia launches huge missile blitz hitting hospital & injuring 53 while Zelensky in US

KYIV has suffered a hellish night after Russia launched a massive missile attack overnight that left 53 people injured.

Ukraine's air defences downed ten strikes - believed to be powerful Russian Iskander missiles - but damage was caused by falling rocket debris.

The horror hit damaged a children’s hospital and apartment building and wounded 53 people including six children, one aged only five.

It marks one of the biggest number of injured in the Ukrainian capital in months.

Twenty people were hospitalised as a result of the heavy bombardment of Kyiv, including two children.

The military administration in the Ukrainian capital said the city had faced "the second high-speed missile attack on Kyiv in the last two days. 

"Just like on December 11, the enemy used ballistic weapons. 

"The Russians launched rockets at approximately 3am,  most likely from the north-eastern direction."

Sergiy Popko, head of the city's military administration, said there were reports of a dozen cases of falling missile debris, including from the Desnyansky district where 17 residents, including seven children, were evacuated from a building on fire.

Mayor Vitali Kitschko said: "In one of the children's hospitals in the Dnipro district, windows were broken and the central entrance to the institution was damaged.

"In the Dnipro district, the facade of a residential building was damaged by rocket fragments. Residents are being evacuated. Fire and rescue services and medics are working on the spot….

"Four cars are burning in the yard of a residential building. One of the balconies of the building is on fire and the facade of the building is damaged. 

"Rescuers have already brought out 15 people, including four children.

"Fire services extinguish the fire. Evacuation of residents continues.

"A one-story residential building is on fire in the Darnytskyi district. Emergency services arrived at the scene….

"Fragments of a rocket also fell on a private residential building in the Dnipro district."

The mayor added: "In total, 53 people were injured as a result of the enemy’s night attack. 

"Twenty, including two children, were hospitalised. 

"Doctors provided assistance to 33 injured people on the spot, notably six  children."

In the Odesa region, ten incoming Shahed kamikaze drones, launched by Russian from annexed Crimea, were destroyed.

Meanwhile, footage showed Russia had put its flag over the ruins of Maryinka, a hotly-disputed town in the Donetsk region, as it makes gains on the frontline.

The attacks happened as President Volodymyr Zelensky was outside the country on a visit to Washington, where President Joe Biden warned that Russia was banking on the United States abandoning Ukraine.

Biden warned his foes they were making a “Christmas gift” to Vladimir Putin by refusing to sanction urgent new munitions for Kyiv and said the US would "continue to supply Ukraine with critical weapons and equipment as long as we can."

The Ukrainian leader dismissed suggestions he could concede territory taken by Russia since its February 2022 invasion to move any ceasefire closer.

Asked in Washington if he would cede territory to Putin, Zelensky hit back: “This is absolute madness. 

“We often mention God, and it is definitely not in a Christian way. 

“Our people, families, children live there. And all this is part of Ukrainian society. 

"We are talking about living people, they are mocked, raped, they were killed, and we know it very well.

“The question is not only in the land, the question is in living people, their destinies. The problem lies with these families, their children.”

He vowed: “Ukraine has been defending its freedom for two years now in a full-scale war - the largest war since World War II. 

“No matter what Putin tries to do, he cannot defeat Ukraine. Russia will not impose a dictatorship on us.”