Russia’s deadliest assault on Kyiv for months kills 15 and wounds dozens

Russia has carried out a mass missile and drone assault on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killing not less than 15 folks and wounding greater than 100 others, officers say.

A drone smashed into an house block, destroying dozens of flats and Ukraine’s inside minister stated the nation had been hit by 440 drones and 32 missiles.

The assault in a single day into Tuesday was among the many largest on the capital for the reason that begin of Russia’s full-scale conflict and President Volodymyr Zelensky stated it was “one of the crucial terrifying strikes”.

Russia’s defence ministry stated it had focused Ukraine’s military-industrial complexes and that each one its targets had been hit.

The strikes on Kyiv lasted greater than 9 hours – sending residents fleeing to underground shelters from earlier than midnight till after dawn.

Officers stated a ballistic missile hit a nine-storey house constructing in a single district, with a complete of 27 districts of the town coming underneath hearth. An entrance to the constructing within the southwestern Solomyanskyi district got here crashing down and there have been issues the variety of casualties might rise.

A 62-year-old US citizen was amongst these killed, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated.

Standing in entrance of the stays of the constructing, Klitschko stated greater than 40 residences had been destroyed and extra folks could be trapped underneath the rubble.

He accused Russia of firing cluster bomblets crammed with ball bearings to kill as many individuals as doable.

“Waking up in utter nightmare: folks trapped underneath rubble and full buildings collapsed,” Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko wrote on X.

Klymenko stated that a wide range of buildings had come underneath Russian assault, together with residential, important infrastructure and academic amenities.

Loud explosions rocked the town, together with the rattle of the machine weapons utilized by cell Ukrainian air defence models to shoot down drones.

Extra sirens later within the morning disrupted rescue operations within the metropolis, hampering emergency employees looking out the rubble for survivors.

Russia has intensified its air assaults towards Ukrainian cities in current weeks, with a tactic of sending massive waves of drones and decoys designed to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences.

Kyiv has launched assaults of its personal, as direct talks between the warring sides did not safe a ceasefire or important breakthrough.

Russia accused Ukrainian forces of launching a missile strike on a district in occupied Donetsk in jap Ukraine on Tuesday, and Russia-appointed officers stated not less than 10 folks had been harm.

A reported 147 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over 9 Russian areas in a single day, Russian information companies stated.

President Zelensky, who has travelled to the G7 summit in Canada, referred to as Russia’s most up-to-date wave of strikes “pure terrorism”.

He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of finishing up the large-scale strikes “solely as a result of he can afford to proceed this conflict”.

“It’s unhealthy when the highly effective of this world flip a blind eye to this,” he stated, including: “It’s the terrorists who ought to really feel the ache, not regular, peaceable folks.”

Drone strikes additionally hit the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Odesa, killing one particular person and injuring not less than 10 others, Klymenko stated.

Zelenksy had been hoping to talk with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Tuesday, however Trump reduce quick his keep amid the escalating disaster within the Center East.

The information will come as a blow to Zelensky and his administration, which had been hoping to safe US assist on the convention for Ukraine’s strategic and navy targets.

However, the UK and its allies are anticipated to announce extra sanctions on Russia on Tuesday in continued efforts to maintain strain on Moscow over its conflict in Ukraine.