Russian strikes in Kyiv killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens, with significant damage reported. Photo / Getty Images
Russian strikes in Kyiv killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens, with significant damage reported. Photo / Getty Images
Russian strikes killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens in Kyiv in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday called “one of the most horrific attacks” on the capital.
Zelenskyy said “an entire section of an apartment block” was destroyed and rescuers were searching under the rubble for possiblesurvivors.
AFP journalists heard drones flying over the city and explosions ringing out as Ukrainian air defence systems opened fire during the Russian barrage.
Dozens of Kyiv residents were taking shelter in a metro station in central Kyiv, sleeping on mats, exchanging information on the drone and missile threat or reassuring pets, AFP journalists reported.
Some 27 locations in Kyiv were hit, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said. One person was also killed and 10 wounded in a strike on Odesa, with Zelenskyy saying a total of 440 drones and 32 missiles were used in the strikes nationwide.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for international attention after what he described as "one of the most horrific attacks". Photo / Getty Images
“Kyiv has faced one of the most horrific attacks,” Zelenskyy wrote on Facebook. “Right now in Kyiv, efforts are under way to rescue people from under the rubble of an ordinary residential building – it’s still unclear how many remain trapped.”
He urged the international community not to “turn a blind eye”. Russian President Vladimir Putin “does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on,” he said.
Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in a social media post: “This is how Russia fights – it kills civilians in ordinary homes, deliberately.”
Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram: “27 locations in different districts of the capital came under enemy fire tonight.”
He said “residential buildings, educational institutions and critical infrastructure facilities” had all been hit. “The death toll has risen to 14 people. As of now, 44 people have been injured in Kyiv,” Klymenko said. He added six others had been injured in Odesa and another in Chernigiv.
Some 27 locations in Ukraine were hit, including residential buildings and critical infrastructure, during the latest attack from Russia. Photo / Getty Images
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko had earlier reported the death of a US citizen in a Russian attack on the capital’s Solomyansky district. “During the attack on Kyiv... a 62-year-old US citizen died in a house opposite to the place where medics were providing assistance to the injured,” Klitschko said on Telegram.
Yermak criticised the new Russian strikes on “residential buildings in Kyiv”, saying on Telegram that Moscow was “continuing its war against civilians”.
More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has kept up its attacks despite efforts by the United States to broker a ceasefire. Talks have stalled.
Moscow has rejected the “unconditional” truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies, while Ukraine has dismissed Russia’s demands as “ultimatums”.
On Monday, Zelenskyy said he hoped to speak with his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.
But the Ukrainian leader was expected to arrive at the G7 after the departure of the US President, who cut short his stay in the Canadian Rockies as Israel pounded Iran.
