Ukraine says Russian missiles target more than 40 cities, towns

Russian missiles pounded more than 40 Ukrainian cities and towns, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday, after a UN General Assembly resolution called Moscow's annexation of Ukrainian territory "illegal" and Ukraine's allies committed more military aid.

Russia repeated its position that the West, by helping Ukraine, indicated that "they are a direct party to the conflict" and warned the admission of Ukraine to NATO could trigger World War Three.

"Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to a World War Three," the deputy secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Alexander Venediktov, told the state TASS news agency on Thursday.

In the past 24 hours, Russian missiles hit more than 40 settlements, while Ukraine's air force carried out 32 strikes on 25 Russian targets, Ukraine's Armed Forces General Staff said.

Mayor of the port city of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevich, said in a social media post that the southern city was "massively shelled."

"A five-story residential building was hit, the two upper floors were completely destroyed, the rest — under rubble. Rescuers are working on the site," he said.

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A shipbuilding center and a port on the Southern Bug river off the Black Sea, Mykolaiv has suffered heavy Russian bombardments throughout the war.

Russia also targeted a settlement in the region of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, using explosive drones early on Thursday, the region's administration said on the Telegram messaging app.

Critical infrastructure facilities were hit by the drones, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office.

Missiles struck more than 30 multi-story and private houses, gas pipelines and power lines in the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and more than 2,000 families were left without electricity, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram.

The report could not be verified.

UN resolution on Russia

In New York, three-quarters of the 193-member General Assembly — 143 countries — voted on Wednesday in favor of a resolution condemning Russia's "attempted illegal annexation" of four partially-occupied regions in Ukraine.

Only four countries joined Russia in voting against the resolution — Syria, Nicaragua, North Korea, and Belarus. Thirty-five countries abstained from the vote, including Russia's strategic partner China, while the rest did not vote.

Moscow in September proclaimed its annexation of four partially occupied regions in Ukraine — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — after referendums.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the General Assembly ahead of the vote that the resolution was "politicized and openly provocative," adding that it could "destroy" efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.

Western countries pledge more arms

In Brussels, more than 50 Western countries met to pledge more military aid to Ukraine, especially air defense weapons, on the heels of heavy retaliatory strikes this week ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to a bombing on a bridge in Crimea.

Pledges from allies included an announcement by France that it would deliver radar and air defense systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. Britain pledged air defense missiles, and Canada said it would provide artillery rounds among other supplies.

Since Monday's attacks, Germany has sent the first of four IRIS-T SLM air defense systems, while Washington said it would speed up delivery of a promised NASAMS air defense system.

(Source: Agencies)

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