Russia rains missiles on Ukraine, hits top refinery

Russia rained missiles across Ukraine on Thursday and struck its largest oil refinery, Kyiv said.

Following a pattern of heavy bombardments after Ukrainian battlefield or diplomatic gains, Russia launched 36 missiles in the early hours, Ukraine’s air force said.

NATO alliance officials had on the previous day discussed plans for more military hardware for Kyiv, and Britain and Poland agreed after their leaders met on Thursday that support should be stepped up in coming weeks.

The Russian missiles triggered air raid sirens and landed across Ukraine, including at the Kremenchuk refinery, where the extent of damage was unclear. About 16 were shot down, the air force added, a lower rate than normal.

Ukraine said the barrage included three KH-31 missiles and one Oniks anti-ship cruise missile, which its air defenses cannot shoot down.

Its general staff, in its evening report, said Russia had also shelled more than two dozen eastern and southern settlements.

There was no word from Moscow on the missile strikes or shelling, and the battlefield reports could not be independently confirmed.

The head of Russia’s mercenary outfit Wagner said it could take months to capture the embattled Ukraine city of Bakhmut and slammed Moscow’s “monstrous bureaucracy” for slowing military gains.

“I think it’s (going to be in) March or in April,” Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said in one of several messages posted online overnight.

“To take Bakhmut you have to cut all supply routes. It’s a significant task,” he said, adding: “Progress is not going as fast as we would like.”

“Bakhmut would have been taken before the New Year, if not for our monstrous military bureaucracy … and the spokes that are put in the wheels daily,” he added.

Separately, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen arrived in Kyiv Thursday to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

“I came to say: Israel stands by Ukraine and by the Ukrainian people in their difficult time,” Cohen wrote on Twitter. Shortly after arrival, the minister visited the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, the site of an alleged massacre of Ukrainian civilians.

NATO must be prepared for a long standoff with Russia beyond the immediate crisis triggered the invasion of Ukraine, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said.

“President Vladimir Putin wants a different Europe, wants a Europe where he can control neighbors, where he can decide what countries can do,” Stoltenberg, 63, said. “We need to be prepared for the long haul, this may last for many, many, many, many years.”