Russian drones and missiles have pounded the Ukrainian capital and other cities, killing six people in the Kyiv region, including a six-month-old baby, a 12-year-old girl and a woman, and damaging key energy facilities and several high-rise residential buildings.
The attacks lasted most of Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning as Kyiv was hit by at least four ballistic missiles. A series of loud explosions could be heard across the city.
Towards dawn and the beginning of the morning rush-hour, air defences targeting Russian drones was audible above the sound of traffic.
The latest attack came as it was reported that Ukraine had launched a substantial attack on a major chemical plant in Bryansk, in south-western Russia, with Storm Shadow missiles, which are supplied by Britain and France. Ukrainian drones also hit Russia’s Mordovia region.
The first explosions could be heard across Kyiv shortly after 1am and then more about half an hour later. Blasts were also reported in Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Dnipro with strikes and air raid alerts continuing into the morning.
Emergency services rescued 10 people after a fire caused by drone wreckage hit the sixth floor of a 16-storey residential building, while the strikes also blew out windows of a medical facility and debris was found at another residential building, Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reported on his Telegram channel.
In the Darnytskyi district of the capital, emergency services were responding after drone debris hit a 17-storey residential building causing a fire on five floors.
In the Desnianskyi district, 20 people were rescued after the facade of a 10-storey building was damaged and a gas pipe caught fire.
Strikes in Ukraine’s eastern Poltava region damaged oil and gas facilities, said the local governor, Volodymyr Kohut, while the city of Dnipro reported heavy strikes.
An apartment building in Zaporizhzhia was also damaged overnight, where at least 13 civilians were reported injured.
Russia has increased sharply the number and intensity of attacks on the Ukrainian energy system in recent weeks, targeting power plants and gas facilities.
The latest attack came as Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was due in Sweden on Wednesday for talks with the country’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, at the beginning of an intense period of European diplomacy. A meeting of the “coalition of the willing” is due to take place on Friday in London to shore up support for Ukraine in the face of the latest backsliding by Donald Trump, the US president.
“The prime minister and President Zelenskyy will hold a joint press conference to present news regarding defence exports,” the Swedish government said. In connection with the meeting, the leaders will also visit a company, it added.
The latest airstrikes underlined the failure of the most recent efforts by Trump to persuade the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to agree to a ceasefire even as the US president tried to strong-arm Zelenskyy into giving up the key eastern Donbas region at an acrimonious meeting last week.
While Zelenskyy had flown to Washington hopeful of securing long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, a two-hour phone conversation between Trump and Putin beforehand led to an abrupt U-turn, with Trump reportedly warning Zelenskyy that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine if he did not agree to Russia’s terms.
Trump had announced his intention to meet Putin in the Hungarian capital within two weeks, triggering a scramble in Europe to show support for Kyiv.
In remarks at the White House on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Moscow’s refusal to cease fighting along the current frontline remained a key sticking point. Earlier, a White House official had said there were “no plans” for a Trump-Putin meeting “in the immediate future”.
