Kyiv: Russia unleashed a barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine overnight into Sunday, killing at least four people, with Kyiv suffering the heaviest assault. It was the first major bombardment since an air attack on Ukraine’s capital left at least 21 people dead last month.
Separately, US Vice President JD Vance said the US was considering selling Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration, confirmed Sunday’s casualties via Telegram and said that 10 others were wounded in the attack, which targeted civilian areas across the city. A 12-year-old girl was among the dead. Thick black smoke could be seen rising from a blast near the city centre.
“The Russians have restarted the child death counter,” Tkachenko wrote on Telegram. Russia fired a total of 595 exploding drones and decoys and 48 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday. Of those, air defences shot down or jammed 566 drones and 45 missiles.
Besides Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the bombardment targeted the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Odesa. Zelenskyy wrote on X that at least 40 people were wounded across the country. Later, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry stated the number of the injured rose to 70, with more than 100 civilian objects damaged.
Zaporizhzhia’s regional head, Ivan Fedorov, said that three children were among the 27 wounded in the region, adding that more than two dozen buildings were damaged in the capital, which bears the same name.
“This vile attack came virtually at the close of UN General Assembly week, and this is exactly how Russia declares its true position. Moscow wants to keep fighting and killing, and it deserves the toughest pressure from the world,” Zelenskyy wrote.