Wave of missiles and drones pounds Ukraine, damages blood-transfusion center

KYIV ­— Russia hit Ukraine with a barrage of missiles and drones overnight, including a strike on a medical center that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy labeled a war crime.

The attack started Saturday evening and continued until the early hours of Sunday, Ukraine’s Air Force said in a statement Sunday morning.

Ukrainian air defense managed to shoot down 30 missiles and 27 drones, the Air Force said. But Ukrainian officials did not disclose any information about at least five missiles fired against Ukraine last night, including three Kinzhal cruise missiles.

“Kinzhals and Kalibr cruise missiles hit Motor Sich [in the Zaporizhzhia region] and hit our Khmelnytskiy region. Our defense forces shot down part of the missiles,” Zelenskyy said in a video statement.

In a separate late-night statement, Zelenskyy said Moscow also targeted a blood-transfusion center in Kupiansk, a town in the Kharkiv region, with a guided aerial bomb. “Dead and wounded are reported,” he said.

“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression. Beasts that destroy everything that simply allows to live. Defeating terrorists is a matter of honor for everyone who values life,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia attacked the Khmelnytskiy region three times in the last 24 hours, Serhiy Tiurin, first deputy head of the local regional administration said during the Ukrainian national telethon.

“Fortunately, air defense managed to shoot down most of the missiles and drones. But still, many private houses, car stations, and a grain elevator were damaged in the Starokostyantynivska community. A huge fire started,” Tiurin said.  “An elevator worker was hospitalized with injuries.”

Tiurin said Russia regularly targets Starokostyantyniv trying to hit an aerial base located in the area.

Motor Sich is a Ukrainian aircraft engines manufacturer based in Zaporizhzhia that produces engines for the military-industrial complex.