MOSCOW — Russia
launched a group strike with long-range precision weapons on Friday in
retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on its chemical plant with Western-made
missiles.
The strike targetted the Ukrainian Security Service command
post, the state-run Kyiv design bureau "Luch," and positions of the
Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a
statement.
It said the raid was in response to Ukraine's Wednesday
attack on a Russian chemical plant in the Rostov region with six US-made ATACMS
tactical missiles and four Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles.
Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces said on Telegram
that five Russian missiles targeted Kyiv but were shot down by Ukrainian air
defence at around 7 am (0500 GMT).
The fragments of downed missiles resulted in deaths and
injuries as well as damage in five districts of Kyiv, it said, Xinhua news
agency reported.
In a major shift of policy on the Ukraine crisis, the United
States in November authorized Ukraine to use US long-range missiles to strike
targets in Russia, triggering an escalation of tension around the conflict.
Earlier this week, citing a senior diplomat, the Ukrainian
government-run Ukrinform news agency reported that Russia has carried out 12
attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure so far this year, launching about
1,100 missiles.
Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the
United Nations, said that the attacks involved both cruise and ballistic
missiles.
Russia last week conducted one of the largest assaults this
year on Ukraine's energy facilities with 94 missiles and 193 drones, Kyslytsya
said.
Earlier, the state-run energy company Ukrenergo estimated
that Ukraine had lost about nine gigawatts of generating capacity due to the
strikes.
Later, the Russian authorities also detained an Uzbek
citizen in connection with the deaths of a senior military official and his
assistant.
The 29-year-old suspect has been accused of carrying out a
terrorist attack that resulted in the deaths of Lieutenant General Igor
Kirillov, head of the Russian armed forces' radiological, chemical and biological
defence troops, and his assistant.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the
suspect was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services and given a homemade
explosive device after he arrived in Moscow. He allegedly placed the device on an
electric scooter parked near the entrance of the building where Kirillov
resided.
