KYIV: Russian strikes killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens in Kyiv in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday called “one of the most horrific attacks” on the capital.
Zelensky said “an entire section of an apartment block” was destroyed and rescuers were searching under the rubble for possible survivors.
AFP journalists heard drones flying over the city and explosions ringing out as Ukrainian air defence systems opened fire during the Russian barrage.
Dozens of Kyiv residents were taking shelter in a metro station in central Kyiv, sleeping on mats, exchanging information on the drone and missile threat or reassuring pets, AFP journalists reported.
Some 27 locations in Kyiv were hit, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said.
One person was also killed and 10 wounded in a strike on Odesa, with Zelensky saying that a total of 440 drones and 32 missiles were used in the strikes nationwide.
“Kyiv has faced one of the most horrific attacks,“ Zelensky wrote on Facebook.
“Right now in Kyiv, efforts are underway to rescue people from under the rubble of an ordinary residential building — it’s still unclear how many remain trapped,“ he said.
He urged the international community not to “turn a blind eye”.
Russian President Vladimir “Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on,“ he said.
Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in a social media post: “This is how Russia fights — it kills civilians in ordinary homes, deliberately.”
US citizen dead
Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram: “27 locations in different districts of the capital came under enemy fire tonight”.
He added that “residential buildings, educational institutions and critical infrastructure facilities” had all been hit.
“The death toll has risen to 14 people. As of now, 44 people have been injured in Kyiv,“ Klymenko said.
He added that six others had been injured in Odesa and another in Chernigiv.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko had earlier reported the death of a US citizen in a Russian attack on the capital’s Solomyansky district.
“During the attack on Kyiv… a 62-year-old US citizen died in a house opposite to the place where medics were providing assistance to the injured,“ Klitschko said on Telegram.
Yermak slammed the new Russian strikes on “residential buildings in Kyiv”, saying on Telegram that Moscow was “continuing its war against civilians”.
More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has kept up its attacks despite efforts by the United States to broker a ceasefire.
Talks have stalled. Moscow has rejected the “unconditional” truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies, while Ukraine has dismissed Russia’s demands as “ultimatums”.
On Monday, Zelensky had said he hoped to speak with his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.
But the Ukrainian leader was expected to arrive at the G7 after the departure of the American president, who cut short his stay in the Canadian Rockies as Israel pounded Iran.
