At least 24 civilians across Ukraine were killed and at least 130 people were injured when Russian forces launched their largest aerial attack Friday morning, hitting six cities between Lviv in the west and Kharkiv in the east.

An unknown number of civilians remain trapped under the rubble after missiles struck shopping centers, apartment complexes, schools, and even a maternity ward.

Photos and videos posted online showed streets covered in ash and debris from the attacks, as buildings burned.

A ball of fire was even seen descending on a residential building, leaving it in flames as a plume of black smoke rose into the sky.

In total, Russian forces fired more than 150 missiles and drones at Ukrainian targets in an 18-hour-long exercise.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russians used a wide variety of weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles.

Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat also said the Russian military “apparently launched everything they have” except for submarine-launched Kalibr missiles, describing the attack as something the country’s never seen before.

“This time we saw a large amount of rockets,” he told Ukrainian media, according to the Washington Post. 

“The screen was practically red — the monitors. They were spreading out over the whole of Ukraine.

“They flew with detours,” he recounted. “Some rockets were flying in circles and would then fly onto their targets.”

The scale of the attack seemed to confirm Western fears that Russia was limiting its cruise missile strikes in recent months to build up stockpiles for a massive winter strike, and officials in Kyiv have warned that stalled American assistance could embolden the Russians.

The attack finally came on Friday, just days after Ukrainian forces struck a Russian warship in the occupied Crimean port of Feodosiya.

In a statement, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced it carried out a “massive strike with high precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles” against Ukraine’s military structure — including airfields, ammunition, and storage sites.

The ministry said all targeted facilities were destroyed, though the claim could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian officials were able to use Western-provided air defense systems to shoot down 114 missiles and drones out of the 158 Russia sent, the Ukrainian military said on Telegram.

But others crashed into residential buildings and warehouses, causing massive damage.

An attack in Kyiv started a massive fire at a warehouse where five people were reportedly pulled from the rubble.

Workers at the warehouse said they watched in horror as the missile slammed into the building shortly before 8 a.m.

Volodymyr Maliukhnenko, 53, was just starting his shift when the attack occurred, according to The New York Times.

He said the impact of the blast threw him about five yards and he temporarily lost consciousness.

In Odesa, on the southern coast, falling drone wreckage started a multistory residential building fire, resulting in two deaths and 15 injuries, regional head Oleh Kiper said, and in Lviv, a critical infrastructure facility was hit resulting in power outages to four local areas.

“The people are shocked, such a misfortune during such a festive season,” Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said, adding that children will not be able to return to school in the new year.

In Boyarka, a city near Kyiv, debris from a shot-down drone also fell on a home and started a fire.

Tetiana Sakhnenko, who lives next door, said neighbors immediately rushed with buckets of water to put out the blaze but it spread too quickly.

Andrii Korobka, 47, also said his mother was sleeping in a room adjacent to the one where the wreckage landed and was taken to a local hospital suffering from shock.

“The war goes on and it can happen to any house even if you think yours will never be affected,” he said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the scale of Friday’s attack should serve as a wake-up call to Western nations that the country still needs help as its supply of surface-to-air missiles runs dry.

“Today, millions of Ukrainians awoke to the loud sound of explosions,” he wrote on X.

“I wish those sounds of explosions in Ukraine could be heard all around the world. In all major capitals, headquarters, and parliaments, which are currently debating further support for Ukraine.”

“Our only collective response can and must be continued, robust, and long-term military and financial assistance to Ukraine,” he said. “Only greater firepower can silence Russian terror.”

President Biden also called the attack “a stark reminder to the world that, after nearly two years of this devastating war, Putin’s objective remains unchanged.

“He seeks to obliterate Ukraine and subjugate its people. He must be stopped,” the president said in a statement.

He went on to say that “the American people can be proud of the lives we have helped to save and the support we have given Ukraine as it defends its people, its freedom and its independence.

“But unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defense systems Ukraine needs to protect its people. Congress must step up and act without any further delay.”

Biden also noted that Russia’s attack poses a threat to NATO allies, saying: “We cannot let our allies and partners down. We cannot let Ukraine down.”

“History will judge harshly those who fail to answer freedom’s call,” the president warned.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced it will provide Ukraine with $250 million worth of weaponry in what will be the last batch of military aid for the war-torn country unless Congress acts in the new year.

The Biden administration’s latest commitment of material includes surface-to-air missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, HIMARS rockets, 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, TOW missiles, Javelin and AT-4 anti-tank systems, and more than 15 million rounds of small arms ammunition, according to the Department of Defense. 

But the security assistance package will be the final one the Biden administration authorizes for Ukraine absent legislative action on a supplemental spending request that has languished before lawmakers for months, the White House said earlier this month. 

With Post wires