Russia launches deadliest aerial attack in months, killing 18 in Ukraine

 

Rescuers work at the site of a Russian missile strike in Kyiv(Image: Reuters)

Overnight, Russia launched more than 700 drones and missiles at Ukraine, killing at least 18 people in the deadliest attack in months, according to local officials. Officials said nine people had been killed in the southern port city of Odesa, five in the central city of Dnipro, and four - including a child - in the capital, Kyiv.

 According to Moscow, a Ukrainian drone attack in the southern Krasnodar region claimed the lives of two Russians, including a child. This comes after a brief ceasefire took place over Orthodox Easter last weekend - though both sides accused one another of hundreds of violations.

 In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At 02:30 local time on Thursday (23:00 GMT on Wednesday), warning sirens roused the population in Kyiv, prompting the first explosions shortly thereafter. Eyewitness photos show massive black smoke plumes and bright orange fires in the city's central areas. In one video, a drone was filmed slamming straight into the side of an apartment block.

 Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, wrote on Telegram that four people were killed, including a 12-year-old boy. 45 more people were hurt.

The mayor added that rescuers had pulled a mother and child from the ruins of a 16-storey residential building that collapsed in the city's central Podil district.

 Four emergency medical workers were among those injured in the north of the capital.

 Oleksandr Ganzha, the regional head in Dnipro, said that the Russian attack had killed four people and injured a dozen others. On Thursday, Borys Filatov, the mayor of the city, said that another body had been found. In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, a drone strike injured a 77-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man, an official said.

 Local officials claim that power has been cut off to Mykolaiv and Kherson, two southern cities. Russia had launched 659 drones and 44 cruise and ballistic missiles in the previous 24 hours, according to Ukraine's air force on Thursday morning. It stated that 636 drones and 31 missiles had been shot down, but 26 locations had received direct hits. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, wrote on X that the attack showed that the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and Europe should not be relaxed.

"Russia is betting on war, and that is exactly how the response should be – we must protect lives with all our might and press for peace with all our might as well," he said.

Reuters

Zelensky warned earlier this week that Ukraine was facing a critical shortage of Patriot air defence missiles, the only means it has of intercepting Russia's ballistic missiles.

 Global stocks of the US-made missiles are limited and many have been diverted to the Middle East since the US and Israel began attacking Iran in February.

 The most recent Russian attack, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, was a "war crime," and he urged allies to put more pressure on Moscow and support Kyiv. In reference to sanctions, Sybiha wrote on X, "All decisions required to increase pressure on the aggressor must be unblocked now." Ukraine is also anxious for the release of a €90 billion (£78 billion) EU loan as soon as possible now that Viktor Orbán, the main opponent of that loan, has been removed from power in Hungary. The money is to be split between Ukraine's defence needs and support for its economy.

In Russia's Krasnodar region, two people - including a 14-year-old girl - were killed in the city of Tuapse in a Ukrainian overnight drone attack, its Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said.

He added that a further five people had been injured.

The war in Ukraine is now in its fifth year and there have been several rounds of peace talks, with the US acting as a mediator.

However, the process has been stalled since US President Donald Trump shifted his focus to the war in the Middle East.

What Ukraine has repeatedly proposed is a full, stable ceasefire as a first step towards negotiating a lasting end to Russia's invasion.

But Moscow insists on agreeing the peace deal first, prompting accusations from Kyiv that Russia is not serious about ending the fighting. 

Source: BBC