Girl, 7, dies in massive Russian missile strike

LIFE IN KYIV

- JOHN MARONE

A MASSIVE Russian air attack took the life of a seven-year-old girl in Ukraine's central region yesterday.

She and four adults had been hospitalised in the strike, where 90 drones and 23 cruise missiles pounded 23 homes and critical local infrastructure in the early hours.

"She was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition," Natalya Zabolotna, first deputy head of the regional military administration, wrote in a Telegram post.

"Doctors fought for her life but unfortunately were unable to save her."

In the southeast Zaporizhzhya region, the bodies of two adults were pulled from the rubble after a separate strike on the same night.

At least 17 other people were injured in the combined drone and missile attack, including six children.

Faces

More than 650 drones and 50 missiles were used in the "vile" nationwide assault, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Energy facilities from east to west were hit, causing outages across the country as the cold weather sets in.