Seven dead, 45 wounded in Russian strikes on Kyiv

Kyiv came under one of its heaviest assaults in months early today, as Russia unleashed hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a punishing strike that killed at least seven people and dealt another blow to already fading hopes of stopping Moscow’s grinding invasion.

Air raid sirens echoed across the Ukrainian capital before hours of deafening blasts and flashes lit up the sky, sending residents rushing into metro stations and other shelters, journalists in the city said.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 675 attack drones and 56 missiles, with Kyiv the main target, and said air defences destroyed 652 drones and 41 missiles.

“Everything was burning. People were screaming … people were shouting,” Andriy, a Kyiv resident still in his nightgown and with blood stains on his shirt, told AFP near a collapsed Soviet-era apartment block.

Police said seven bodies were recovered from the rubble of one destroyed residential building — three men, three women, and a young girl.

Another 45 people were wounded.

Rescuers work at a residential building destroyed following Russian drone and missile strikes in Kyiv

Ballistic challenge

Russian strikes also injured people in the southern regions of Odesa and Kherson, as well as in the eastern Kharkiv region.

“These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end. It is important that partners do not remain silent about this strike,” Mr Zelensky said.

Ukraine said it intercepted 94% of the drones and 73% of the missiles launched by Russia.

“The most difficult challenge is defending against ballistic missiles,” he said.

A number of Ukraine’s allies, among them the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, the Netherlands, Moldova, and Slovakia, condemned the deadly barrage.

“By bombing civilians, Russia demonstrates less its strength than its weakness: it is running out of solutions on the military front and does not know how to end its war of aggression,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says Kyiv attacks show that Russia “openly mocks” efforts to end the war.Russia, which invaded Ukraine more than four years ago, said the missiles and drones were aimed at military-linked targets and energy facilities supporting the Ukrainian army.

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Chaotic rescue scenes

At first light, rescue teams clawed through heaps of debris at a collapsed residential building left hollowed out by the attack.

Emergency workers were seen carrying away the wounded and the dead, while residents wept and waited for word of relatives and neighbours feared trapped in the wreckage.

The latest barrage marks another setback for efforts to end the war, after US President Donald Trump briefly raised hopes of peace by brokering a three-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow last week, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin suggested the conflict could be nearing its end.

But accusations of violations dogged the short truce, and both sides resumed strikes as soon as it ended.Russia’s army fired more than 1,500 drones at Ukraine over yesterday and today, Kyiv’s air force said.

The Kremlin has dismissed the idea that Mr Putin’s vague comments on Saturday that the war was “heading to an end” signalled any softening of Moscow’s stance.

Yesterday, it reiterated its demand that Ukraine fully withdraw from the eastern Donbas region before any ceasefire and full-scale peace talks could begin.

Kyiv has rejected that demand as tantamount to capitulation.

Ukraine has urged Mr Trump to raise the issue of ending the war during his meetings in Beijing this week with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

“This barbaric attack during such an important summit shows that the Russian regime poses a global threat to international security. Instead of peace and development, Moscow pursues aggression and terror,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said.

Mr Zelensky also said Russian drones struck a UN vehicle in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson today, accusing Moscow of deliberately targeting it, but said there were no casualties.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has triggered the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, killing hundreds of thousands of people and forcing millions from their homes.