Ukraine updates: Russia fires biggest missile salvo in weeks

Russian warplanes fired 19 long-range missiles at targets in Ukraine, killing one civilian, wounding four and damaging an industrial facility, Ukrainian officials said Friday, 8 December.

The attack was the first major salvo of missiles Russia has fired at targets, including the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, in weeks.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that military aid to Ukraine is also a source of growth and jobs at home.

Russian launches barrage of cruise missiles

Russian warplanes fired 19 long-range missiles at targets in Ukraine, killing one civilian, wounding four and damaging an industrial facility, Ukrainian officials said.

The attack was the first major salvo of missiles Russia has fired at targets, including the Ukrainian capital, in weeks. Russia has mainly been using drones in its recent overnight attacks.

"Unfortunately, one person is dead. Preliminarily, four people are wounded. They are all in hospital. Two people are in severe condition," Dnipropetrovsk's regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Air defenses shot down 14 incoming missiles over the region outside Kyiv and the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said in televised comments.

Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said the Ukrainian capital had been targeted in the attack but that all the missiles were downed by air defenses as they approached.

Russia used seven Tu-95 bombers to launch missiles at different regions across the country, the air force said in a statement.

Officials also reported an earlier overnight missile attack that struck the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Blinken says Ukraine military aid also creates growth at home

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that military aid to Ukraine is also a source of growth and jobs at home.

"If you look at the investments that we've made in Ukraine's defense to deal with this aggression, 90% of the security assistance we've provided has actually been spent here in the United States with our manufacturers," he said.

The US top diplomat was speaking in Washington following a meeting with his British counterpart, David Cameron, on Thursday.

Blinken emphasized that this "produced more American jobs, more growth in our own economy." This is in addition to the importance of Kyiv's support to global politics and US national security, Blinken added.

The US is Ukraine's most important military supporter in the campaign to defend itself against Russian forces. However, the release of more aid is being blocked by a domestic political dispute between Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

During his visit, Cameron made a strong plea for further US aid for Ukraine.

He said he did not want to interfere in US domestic policy, but was putting forward arguments that he considered important "as a friend of America, as a friend of Ukraine."

"In the 1930s we didn't act fast enough to deal with the evil dictator who was invading European countries and redrawing borders by force," Cameron warned. "And we know how that ended."