Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, suffered one of its most intense aerial attacks overnight as Russia launched a coordinated strike involving 18 missiles and around 400 drones, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday morning.
The barrage killed two people, a 68-year-old woman and a 22-year-old police officer, and wounded at least 16 others. Authorities said residential buildings, vehicles, and infrastructure across eight city districts were damaged by falling debris and explosions.
“This was another telling attack,” President Zelensky said. “It comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all.”
In Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district, drone wreckage ignited a fire on the roof of a residential building, while in Podilsky, a primary healthcare center was “almost completely destroyed,” Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported.
Smoke blanketed much of the city, and officials urged residents to remain in shelters and keep windows shut.
Kyiv residents endured over three hours of sirens, explosions, and anti-aircraft fire during the early hours, in what followed Tuesday night’s record-setting aerial assault- 728 drones and 13 cruise or ballistic missiles that struck cities across Ukraine.
The escalation underscores the growing strain on Ukraine’s air defenses and the diminishing chances of a diplomatic breakthrough. Despite recent contact between the US.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, meaningful progress on a ceasefire remains elusive.
“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said Tuesday. “He’s very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
The Kremlin dismissed the remarks. “Trump’s way of talking is generally quite harsh,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “The phrases he uses are his style.”
Amid the violence, the US resumed some arms deliveries to Ukraine after briefly halting key air defense shipments. A bipartisan sanctions bill targeting countries that trade with Russia is also under debate in Washington.
Meanwhile, in Rome, a two-day international conference on Ukraine’s recovery begins Thursday, with 77 countries attending. Ukraine’s deteriorating airspace security and European plans for fresh sanctions on Moscow are expected to top the agenda.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, three people were reported killed Wednesday in a Russian airstrike on Kostiantynivka, near the eastern front line. Russia’s defense ministry has not yet commented on any of the latest attacks.
Since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia’s air campaign has grown in frequency and scale, leaving vast swaths of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure in ruins and the prospects of peace increasingly remote.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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