Russian forces launched overnight drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s capital, killing at least eight people and injuring more than three dozen, officials said on Thursday.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said eight people were killed and around three dozen locations across the city were damaged.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 34 others were injured. He added that the first to sixth floors of an apartment building collapsed after a direct hit.
Reuters footage showed emergency workers searching through the rubble of what had been a nine-storey residential building as the sun rose over Kyiv.
Hotel fire, widespread damage
A fire broke out at the top of a building on central Shevchenko Boulevard, while other parts of the city saw shattered windows and destroyed vehicles.
Klitschko said the injured included paramedics and ambulance drivers, adding that some people remained trapped inside damaged residential buildings.
Multiple explosions were heard across Kyiv, while air raid alerts were issued for most of Ukraine.
Zelenskiy cuts short Dublin visit
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had earlier warned of a possible overnight attack and said he was cutting short his visit to Dublin.
He had been in Ireland for the start of the country’s six-month rotating presidency of the European Union.
“Another horrific night for the residents of the city, who were forced to spend it in shelters,” Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, wrote on X.
Civilians take shelter underground
People carrying children, belongings, tents and pets crowded into underground stations as explosions shook the capital.
The attack was described as Russia’s worst assault on Ukraine since mid-June.
Neighbouring Poland, a NATO and European Union member, briefly scrambled fighter jets as a preventive step. Polish authorities later said the jets were called back and no airspace violation had been recorded.
Finland, also a NATO and EU member, briefly issued a temporary aviation restriction zone in the eastern Gulf of Finland before lifting it later, its defence forces said on X.
Russia, Ukraine exchange attacks
Zelenskiy has proposed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the more than four-year-old war, but the Kremlin leader has rejected the proposal.
Ukraine has recently intensified strikes deeper inside Russian territory, contributing to a widespread fuel crisis in Russia and forcing the world’s third-largest oil producer to import gasoline from as far away as India.
Drone incidents reported inside Russia
Governor Alexander Drozdenko of Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region said Russian forces brought down seven drones on Thursday.
The region is home to major export and oil refining facilities and is also Putin’s home region.
In Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, local authorities said a man was killed and his wife injured after a drone hit their home.
Reuters said it could not independently verify details of the casualties. Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it carried out a massive attack on Kyiv and other locations using long-range, high-precision air-, land- and sea-launched weapons, as well as drones.
The ministry said it targeted military and energy facilities around Kyiv, along with military airports in Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk and other regions.
Moscow described the strikes as retaliation for what it said were Ukrainian attacks on civil infrastructure.
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