Russia has carried out a mass missile and drone assault on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killing not less than 10 individuals and wounding greater than 100 others, officers say.
A drone smashed into an condominium block, destroying dozens of flats and Ukraine’s inside minister mentioned the nation had been hit by 440 drones and 32 missiles.
Officers mentioned initially that 15 individuals had died within the capital, however later revised the quantity all the way down to 10, with one other two fatalities within the southern port metropolis of Odesa.
The assault in a single day into Tuesday was among the many largest on the capital because the begin of Russia’s full-scale warfare and President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned it was “one of the terrifying strikes”.
Russia’s defence ministry mentioned it had focused Ukraine’s military-industrial complexes and that each one its targets had been hit.
The strikes on Kyiv lasted greater than 9 hours – sending residents fleeing to underground shelters from earlier than midnight till after dawn.
Officers mentioned a ballistic missile hit a nine-storey condominium constructing in a single district, with a complete of 27 areas within the metropolis coming below fireplace. An entrance to the constructing within the southwestern Solomyanskyi district got here crashing down and there have been considerations the variety of casualties might rise.
A 62-year-old US citizen was amongst these killed, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned.
ReutersStanding in entrance of the stays of the constructing, Klitschko mentioned greater than 40 residences had been destroyed and extra individuals could be trapped below the rubble.
He accused Russia of firing cluster bomblets stuffed with ball bearings to kill as many individuals as doable.
“Waking up in utter nightmare: individuals trapped below rubble and full buildings collapsed,” Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko wrote on X.
Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko mentioned that a wide range of buildings had come below Russian assault, together with residential, vital infrastructure and academic amenities.
Individuals had been nonetheless below the rubble by late afternoon and rescue work was happening at two websites, he mentioned. Klymenko defined that preliminary errors made in counting the lifeless typically occurred as a result of physique elements had been wrongly recognized.
Loud explosions rocked town within the early hours of Tuesday, together with the rattle of the machine weapons utilized by cellular Ukrainian air defence items to shoot down drones.
Extra sirens later within the morning disrupted rescue operations within the metropolis, hampering emergency staff looking out the rubble for survivors.
Russia has intensified its air assaults in opposition to Ukrainian cities in latest weeks, with a tactic of sending massive waves of drones and decoys designed to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences.
Kyiv has launched assaults of its personal, as direct talks between the warring sides did not safe a ceasefire or important breakthrough.
Russia accused Ukrainian forces of launching a missile strike on a district in occupied Donetsk in jap Ukraine on Tuesday, and Russia-appointed officers mentioned not less than 10 individuals had been damage.
A reported 147 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over 9 Russian areas in a single day, Russian information businesses mentioned.
ReutersPresident Zelensky, who has travelled to the G7 summit in Canada, referred to as Russia’s most up-to-date wave of strikes “pure terrorism”.
He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of finishing up the large-scale strikes “solely as a result of he can afford to proceed this warfare”.
“It’s dangerous when the highly effective of this world flip a blind eye to this,” he mentioned, including: “It’s the terrorists who ought to really feel the ache, not regular, peaceable individuals.”
Drone strikes additionally hit the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Odesa, killing two individuals and wounding 10 others, officers mentioned.
Zelensky had been hoping to talk with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Tuesday, however Trump lower quick his keep amid the escalating disaster within the Center East.
The information will come as a blow to Zelensky and his administration, which had been hoping to safe US assist on the convention for Ukraine’s strategic and navy objectives.
However, the UK and its allies are anticipated to announce extra sanctions on Russia on Tuesday in continued efforts to maintain strain on Moscow over its warfare in Ukraine.