After a Russian attack using anti-air missiles to hit land targets, six civilians were killed in the Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka on Sunday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Two S-300 missiles and four Uragan Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) projectiles struck a residential area in the city of Donetsk according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
The S-300 system is a long-range surface-to-air missile platform. The anti-air system possesses the capability to launch the missiles against ground targets, but the missiles are expensive munitions. The Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate said in December that such a tactic was indicative of Russia's dwindling supply of missiles.
Six S-300 missiles were launched into Kharkiv on Thursday, Reuters reported.
What was the total damage from the attack?
In addition to the six killed in Sunday's attack, another 11 were wounded, according to Zelensky. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that 16 apartment buildings, eight private residences, a kindergarten and an administrative building were damaged in the attack. Zelensky noted that the same day another two civilians were killed by mortar fire in Konotop.
"These are just a few examples of dozens of hits per day," Zelesky said in an address Sunday night. "The evil state for which it has become the norm to hit residential buildings with "Uragan" like this, to launch S-300 missiles at cities, to shell ordinary villages, people. The evil state must be defeated. In every sense of the word. Rashism [sic] must face a total defeat: military, economic, political, legal.