Shot down 54 of 69 missiles launched by Russia, says Ukraine military

Officials earlier said more than 120 missiles were fired into Ukraine

Russia fired scores of missiles into Ukraine early on Thursday, targetting the capital Kyiv and other cities including Lviv and Odesa in the west, in one of its largest aerial bombardments that sent people rushing to shelters and knocked out power.
 

“Senseless barbarism. These are the only words that come to mind seeing Russia launch another missile barrage at peaceful Ukrainian cities ahead of New Year,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
 

Ukraine's military said it had shot down 54 missiles out of 69 launched by Russia in an assault that began at 7am local time. Air raid sirens rang out across Ukraine and in Kyiv sounded for five hours - one of the longest alarms of the war.
 

Officials had earlier said more than 120 missiles were fired into Ukraine during the attack.
 

In Kyiv, Reuters footage showed a team of emergency workers poring through the smouldering wreckage of residential houses destroyed by a blast and smoke trails of missiles lingering in the sky over the capital.
 

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, fire fighters worked to extinguish a large blaze at an electricity station.
 

In the southern central city of Zaporizhzhia, houses were damaged and a missile left a huge crater.
 

Ukraine's military said Russia had launched air and sea-based cruise missiles, anti-aircraft guided missiles and S-300 ADMS at energy infrastructure facilities in eastern, central, western and southern regions. The attacks followed an overnight assault by ‘kamikaze’ drones.
 

Putin oversees inclusion of  new Russian navy warships
 

Vladimir Putin oversaw the commissioning of new warships and vowed on Thursday to further strengthen his 

country’s navy.