At least 21 killed as Russia pounds Kyiv with drones and missiles

At least 21 people were killed in Kyiv after Russia launched a major overnight assault on the Ukrainian capital, The Guardian reported, citing local authorities. Dozens more were injured, and about 70 people were taken to hospital.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko called it the worst Russian strike on the city during more than four years of air raids.

The attack came amid a wider pattern of long-range Russian strikes aimed at exhausting Ukraine’s air defences and keeping pressure on cities far from the front.

Residential districts took the heaviest damage

Russia fired nearly 500 drones and more than 70 missiles at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, says Ukrainian officials according to The Guardian. For hours, residents heard explosions as air defence units tried to intercept drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

By morning, several districts had reported damage. Homes were hit, fires broke out, and a hotel was also struck. On the left bank of the Dnipro River, part of a nine-storey apartment block was destroyed, leaving rescuers to search through rubble for anyone still trapped.

The assault disrupted ordinary life across the capital. Families spent the night underground, commuters emerged to damaged streets, and emergency workers moved from site to site as officials warned that the number of dead could increase.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had cautioned Ukrainians the previous day that a large Russian strike could be coming. More than 50,000 people sheltered in metro stations overnight, city authorities said.

Medical student Oleksandra Voloshyna described the decision to sleep underground as a break from her usual routine after years of war:

“By now we are pretty used to noisy nights, but they are getting worse and worse, and today was the first time in all these years of war that I decided maybe it would be safer not to spend the night at home.”

Ukraine renews calls for protection

Zelenskyy returned early from Ireland and visited one of the damaged sites in Kyiv. He said the destruction showed why Ukraine urgently needed promised air defence support from its partners.

“We are fighting alone. The victims are only Ukrainians. All we ask from our partners is that they do what they agreed to,” he said.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed the assault was retaliation for Ukrainian attacks and said it had targeted military and energy sites. Ukraine rejected that framing, saying it was defending itself against an aggressor.

Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X: “In this war there is an aggressor and a country defending itself. Russia has no right to make any strikes against Ukraine, while Ukraine has every right to respond, defend from aggressor, and strike any legitimate military targets in Russia. Do not equate an aggressor and a country defending from aggression.”

Poland scrambled fighter jets as a precaution, while Finland briefly restricted aviation in part of the eastern Gulf of Finland. In Kyiv, Klitschko said Friday would be a day of mourning as rescue crews continued working through the ruins.

Source: The Guardian

This article is made and published by Kenneth Glad, who may have used AI in the preparation