One killed in Kyiv as Russian missile attack targets Ukraine’s capital
Al JazeeraUkrainian official says Russia used hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles to carry out the attack. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defences were operating following a missile attack which Russia said was in “response” to this week’s Ukrainian strikes using Western missiles on a chemical plant in southern Russia. Prior to the air raid, the Ukrainian Air Force warned that a MiG-31 Russian fighter jet capable of firing hypersonic missiles had taken off from a Russian airbase, the Kyiv Independent reported. On Thursday, at an end-of-year media conference, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin proposed a “high-tech duel” with Kyiv and suggested he would test his claims that Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile is impervious to air defences. In southern Ukraine, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Ukrainian soldiers repelled Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups overnight as they attempted to advance towards the city of Kherson, the Kyiv Independent reported.