What the missile strikes of 21 March 2024 showed
A look back at a day of Russian ballistic and cruise missile attacks on Kyiv and Mykolaiv, following a deadly strike on Kharkiv the day before.
What did civilians in Ukraine face on 21 March 2024? The answer, according to reports at the time, was another round of long-range missile fire across several cities.
On that day, Russia launched a massive attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region using ballistic and cruise missiles. At least 17 people were injured. For a capital that had endured repeated strikes, the scale of the attack was a reminder that the war reached far beyond the front line.
The same day, a Russian ballistic missile attack hit Mykolaiv. At least one civilian was killed and four others were injured.
The day before
The strikes of 21 March followed an attack on Kharkiv on 20 March 2024. A Russian missile struck an industrial area of the city, killing at least five people and injuring eight others.
Taken together, the reports describe attacks on three different cities in the space of two days: Kharkiv in the east, Mykolaiv in the south and Kyiv in the north. In each case the casualties were reported among people in cities and surrounding areas, not at military positions.
The figures given at the time were minimums, described as at least that many killed or injured. This retrospective records them as they were reported, and they mark a stretch of days in which missile fire repeatedly caused casualties in Ukrainian cities.
