Russian strikes killed at least four people in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and wounded at least 24 others, city officials said on Thursday morning.
“According to operational information, the number of dead has increased to three,” the city’s military administration announced. Among the dead was a 14-year-old girl, said the administration’s head, Tymur Tkachenko. Another of the dead was a child, authorities said.
Casualty numbers were expected to rise. A five-storey residential building in the Darnytskyi district was hit directly. “Everything is destroyed,” Tkachenko said. A strike in central Kyiv left a major road strewn with shattered glass.
The attack affected more than 20 locations across the capital, local authorities said. Rescue teams were on site to pull people from the rubble.
Powerful explosions were heard by Agence France-Presse journalists in Kyiv on Thursday as the attack place, the news agency reported. Ukrainian officials warned of a “massive” Russian attack. According to the Associated Press, it was the first major combined Russian mass drone and missile attack on Kyiv since Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on 15 August.
The explosions illuminated the night sky and left behind a column of smoke. At least one missile appeared to be shot down as red tracer bullets sailed upwards.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said a “massive attack on the capital” took place. Air defence forces were operating, he said, urging residents to remain in shelters.
An AFP journalist witnessed about 100 people taking refuge in a subway station, with some lying in sleeping bags and others holding their pets. Three young people were seen anxiously waiting out the bombardment in an underpass.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war have continued in recent weeks following meetings between the US president, Donald Trump, and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts. There has been little tangible progress, as the Kremlin has ducked Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer to meet one-on-one with Vladimir Putin and each day piled on caveats for any peace deal.
With Agence France-Presse and Associated Press