Russian air strikes killed 12 people and wounded 21 others in Kyiv and the surrounding region, Ukrainian authorities said, as attacks on the capital entered a sixth straight day.
Strikes continued across both Ukraine and Russia while diplomatic efforts remained underway to end the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War II.
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Eight people were killed inside Kyiv, authorities said, most of them railway workers caught in a ballistic missile attack on a rail depot.
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, chief executive of Ukrainian Railways, said six company employees were among those killed.
Four more people died in the Kyiv region, Ukrainian prosecutors said, after a residential building was damaged in the suburb of Boryspil.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said 50 residents were evacuated from the building.
“Russia always plans its strikes specifically to cause as much destruction to people’s lives as possible, and it succeeds only when air defence capabilities are insufficient,” he said on social media.
Daily Russian attacks on Kyiv and nearby areas have disrupted life for millions, while air raid warnings spread across much of Ukraine in the early hours of this morning.
Ukrainian children returned to school today, but the Kyiv regional military administration said large events must not be held in areas considered high risk.
Russia has stepped up attacks along Ukraine’s borders as well as against energy and logistics infrastructure. A fresh strike today halted border crossings to Romania — a member of the European Union and NATO — at Orlivka on the Danube river.
In Russia, a drone attack sparked a fire in the port area of Ust-Luga, a major export hub in the country’s northwest, as Moscow worked to repel further drones.
In the Samara region, home to several major oil refineries about 800km southeast of Moscow, an aerial attack damaged civilian facilities, the local governor said on Telegram.
Russia and Ukraine both deny intentionally targeting civilians. Reuters could not independently verify the reports of damage.
A smoke trail from a projectile is seen during a Russian aerial attack in Kyiv in the early hours of this morning
Peace efforts
Mr Zelensky said yesterday that he had held a “detailed and constructive” call with US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The sides, he said, were working to settle dates for the envoys’ visit to Ukraine as part of efforts to advance peace talks.
Also yesterday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the war needed to end for the sake of humanity. The Kremlin leader responded that Moscow was “moving forward along this path”.
The war has driven some NATO members, particularly countries bordering Russia, to strengthen their military capabilities amid a rise in drone incidents near their borders.
NATO’s Baltic air-policing mission briefly scrambled fighter jets in Latvia, while Finland restricted air and maritime traffic near Russia, the armed forces of both countries said separately on X. Drones were reported flying over Russia’s Leningrad region, where Ust-Luga is located.
Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, said in a post on X that his country had also briefly issued an air-threat alert today. He thanked NATO for responding “swiftly and exactly as planned” by sending fighter jets into the air.
