At least four people were killed when Russia unleashed a barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine overnight, with the capital Kyiv suffering the heaviest assault.
Russia launched around 500 drones and over 40 missiles in the overnight attack, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.
“This vile attack came virtually (at) the close of UN General Assembly week, and this is exactly how Russia declares its true position. Moscow wants to keep fighting and killing, and it deserves the toughest pressure from the world,” he said on the Telegram app.
It was the first major bombardment since an air attack on Kyiv killed at least 21 people last month.
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Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration, confirmed Sunday’s casualties on Telegram, and said 10 others were injured in the attack that targeted civilian areas across the city. A 12-year-old girl was among the dead.
“The Russians have restarted the child death counter,” he wrote.
Thick black smoke could be seen rising from a blast near the city centre.
The strikes that began overnight and continued after dawn targeted residential buildings, civilian infrastructure, a medical facility and a children’s nursery, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, who said damage was reported at more than 20 locations across the capital.
At Kyiv’s central train station, passengers arrived to the crackle of anti-aircraft gunfire and the low buzz of attack drones. Mostly women, they waited quietly in a platform underpass until the air raid alert ended.
“The sky has turned black again,” said one woman at the station. “It’s happening a lot.”
At a multistorey residential building heavily damaged by a drone attack, a large section of the upper floors was gutted and windows blown out.
Emergency services personnel, including firefighters with an extended ladder, used power saws to clear the debris. Piles of glass littered nearby pavements as building residents, some looking shaken, sat on benches.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said the assault had involved “hundreds of drones and missiles”.
Writing on X, he added: “We must maximise the cost of further escalation for Russia.”
Russian officials did not immediately comment on the attacks.
The assault also triggered military responses in neighbouring Poland, where fighter jets were deployed early on Sunday as Russia struck targets in western Ukraine, according to the Polish armed forces.
International concerns have mounted recently that the fighting could spread beyond Ukraine’s borders as European countries rebuked Russia for what they said were provocations. The incidents have included Russian drones landing on Polish soil and Russian fighter aircraft entering Estonian airspace.
The latest bombardment follows Mr Zelenskiy’s announcement on Saturday of what he called a “mega deal” for weapons purchases from the United States.
It includes both the major arms agreement and a separate “drone deal” for Ukrainian-made drones that the US will purchase directly.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences shot down 41 Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday. – AP
