Russia launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles at Kiev overnight in one of the largest combined air strikes on the Ukrainian capital in the three-year war, damaging several apartment buildings and wounding 15 people, Reuters reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post that it had been a "difficult night" for Ukraine and called for new international sanctions to pressure Moscow to agree to a ceasefire.
In the early morning hours, Reuters witnesses saw and heard successive waves of drones flying over Kiev, and a series of explosions shook the city.
The sound of anti-aircraft batteries trying to shoot down drones also echoed through the Ukrainian capital.
By morning, the Kyiv city military administration reported damage in six districts of the Ukrainian capital.
As the morning dawned, residents of an apartment building near the center of Kiev surveyed the damage caused by drones.
Dozens of windows were broken, as were balconies on one side of the building.
"I wish they would agree to a ceasefire. Why would they bomb people like this? Poor children. My three-year-old granddaughter was screaming in fear," said Olha Chiruha, a 64-year-old resident.
A 62-year-old local woman, who gave only her name as Katerina, said: "It's a big trouble for people. The first thing I thought was that people were hurt for no reason."
The Obolon district on the northwestern edge of Kiev was hardest hit, officials said.
A resident there, 42-year-old Olha Kalina, said her apartment was hit.
She spent the night with her parents elsewhere, but her children, aged 20 and 13, were in the apartment.
"The kids called me at three in the morning and said, 'Mom, we've been hit. The balcony is on fire.'"
Kalina rushed to the scene and found her children in a shelter in a nearby underground parking lot, their faces black from smoke.
She said the apartment was no longer habitable due to the fire.
Both Ukraine and Russia have said they will comply with United States (US) President Donald Trump's request to hold new talks on a peace agreement.
The two sides carried out a major prisoner exchange on Friday, which Trump welcomed as a first step towards more positive developments.
However, Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of not being serious about trying to end the fighting.
In a post on Telegram, Zelensky said: "With each such attack, the world becomes convinced that the reason for the war's procrastination is Moscow. Only additional sanctions against key sectors of the Russian economy will force Moscow to agree to a ceasefire."
The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia fired 14 ballistic missiles at targets across Ukraine overnight and launched 250 long-range drones, with Kiev as the main target.
There was no comment from Russia about the overnight attacks.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said fragments of a drone hit the top floor of an apartment building in the Solominsky district on the west bank of the Dnieper River, which divides the city.
Timur Tkachenko, the head of the military administration, said that the fire also broke out on two floors of an apartment building in the Dnieper district on the opposite bank.
Officials also reported a fire in Obolon, a northern suburb of the city, and debris fell on a shopping mall in the same area. They said fragments of drones hit the ground in a number of other neighborhoods.
The overnight attacks followed several days of Ukrainian drone attacks - around 800 strikes - on targets inside Russia, including the capital Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promised yesterday that Russia would respond to these attacks.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
