Russia launches deadly drone attacks on Ukrainian capital
At least two people have been killed in the latest assault.
Russia has pounded Ukraine’s capital with another major missile and drone attack, killing at least two people and causing fires across Kyiv a day after the heaviest drone attack of the war so far, Ukrainian officials said.
In another tense and sleepless night for Kyiv residents, with many of them dashing in the dark with children and blankets to the protection of subway stations, at least 19 people were wounded, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv Regional Administration.
The night was punctuated with the chilling whine of approaching drones that slammed into residential areas, exploded and sent balls of orange flames into the dark during the 10-hour barrage.
Russia fired 397 Shahed and decoy drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv and five other regions, authorities said.
“This is a clear escalation of Russian terror: hundreds of Shahed drones every night, constant missile strikes, massive attacks on Ukrainian cities,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram post.
Two rounds of direct peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations have yielded no progress on stopping the fighting.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday there is no date for a possible third round of negotiations.
Russia has recently sought to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defences with major attacks that include increasing numbers of decoy drones.
The previous night, it fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones, topping previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks.
“The continued increase in the size of strike packages is likely intended to support Russian efforts to degrade Ukrainian morale in the face of constant Russian aggression,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said.
In tandem with the bombardments, Russia’s army has started a new drive to break through parts of the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line, where short-handed Ukrainian forces are under heavy strain at what could prove to be a pivotal period of the war.
“At present, the rate of Russian advance is accelerating and Russia’s summer offensive is likely to put the armed forces of Ukraine under intense pressure,” Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at military think tank RUSI, said.
The pressure has caused alarm among Ukrainian officials, who are uncertain about continuing vital military aid from the United States and US President Donald Trump’s policy towards Russia.
“Partners need to be faster with investments in weapons production and technology development,” Mr Zelensky said on Thursday.
“We need to be faster with sanctions and put pressure on Russia so that it feels the consequences of its terror.”
One Kyiv subway station worker said more than 1,000 people, including 70 children, took refuge there.
One of them was 32-year-old Kyiv resident Alina Kalyna.
“The drone attacks a year ago were one thing, and now they’re a completely different thing. We’re exhausted,” she said.
“I sleep poorly, I recover poorly, in fact I no longer recover, I am just somehow on a reserve of energy, of which I have a little left, I just somehow live and exist,” Ms Kalyna said.
