Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
At least six people were killed and 19 injured in a fresh overnight Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv on Monday, authorities in the Ukrainian capital have said.
According to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, Russia struck “residential areas, hospitals and sports infrastructure” with both missiles and drones in the “massive” aerial attack.
Six people were killed in a strike that partially destroyed an apartment block, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said, adding that emergency workers had rescued 10 wounded individuals from under the rubble.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said that over 400 firefighters had been deployed as rescue operations continued at two locations in the city throughout Monday morning, with more people likely to remain trapped under the remains of the building.
Among those injured were two children and a pregnant woman, the State Emergency Service said.
Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration, said that a woman had been killed and two other people had been hospitalised following strikes on the city of Bila Tserkva to the south of the capital.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had launched 352 drones and 16 missiles at the country overnight in one of the largest aerial attacks of the war so far, with Kyiv the main target.
Air defences intercepted 146 of the drones and 12 of the missiles, it said, while a further 193 drones and three missiles failed to reach their targets.
Direct drone and missile strikes were recorded at six locations, the air force added, with debris from downed drones and missiles falling at 25 sites in Kyiv and the surrounding region.
Posting footage of rescue operations on social media on Monday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed out Moscow’s hypocrisy in having “performatively condemned” the US’ bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend while Russia continued to attack Ukrainian cities with Iranian-made drones.
“Today, Moscow is silent after the Russian army carried out a completely cynical strike using Russian-Iranian Shahed drones and missiles against civilian infrastructure in Kyiv and other cities and communities of ours,” Zelensky wrote.
The Ukrainian president added that countries neighbouring Russia, Iran and North Korea should be “thinking carefully about whether they could protect lives if this coalition of murderers persists and continues spreading their terror”.