Russian missile and drone strikes overnight killed at least 16 people and wounded others across Ukraine, local officials said Thursday. In Kyiv, a strike killed a 12-year-old and three others and injured at least 18, military administrator Tymur Tkachenko said. Local media reported multiple explosions as missiles struck the capital in several waves; Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said emergency teams rescued a mother and child from a centrally located building whose ground floor was badly damaged, and firefighters battled several blazes across the city. In the southern port of Odesa, officials said nine people died after the strikes; earlier a Russian drone struck an apartment block there, killing at least one person and injuring six. In Dnipro, a missile strike set residential buildings on fire, killing two people and injuring at least 27, five of them in critical condition, regional authorities reported. Authorities warned the death toll may rise as many missiles and drones struck civilian areas, with explosions and damage reported across multiple districts and air-raid alerts sounding as attacks continued into the early morning. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down or neutralized 31 missiles and 636 drones, saying the enemy launched two waves of combined attacks using ground-based and air-launched missiles and attack drones. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after meeting European allies in Germany, reiterated that securing more air-defense systems is Ukraine’s top diplomatic priority, saying Ukraine needs air-defense missiles every day and that pressure on Russia and timely delivery of promised assistance are essential. Emergency services continued search-and-rescue operations and damage assessments.
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