Russia launched its biggest airstrike of the war against Ukraine overnight, setting fire to the main government building in central Kiev and killing at least four people, including a newborn baby, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.
According to a previous report, two people were killed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drone and missile attack killed four people and caused destruction across the north, south and east of the country, including the cities of Zaporizhia, Kryvyi Rih and Odessa, as well as the Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
"Such killings now, when real diplomacy could have begun long ago, constitute a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war," Zelensky said in a post on the X network, again appealing to allies to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses.
Shortly after sunrise, thick smoke could be seen rising into the clear blue sky from the burning upper floor of the main government building, located in the historic Pechersky district, witnesses told Reuters.
Elsewhere in Kiev, apartment buildings were hit and damaged; dozens of residents, wrapped in blankets, gathered in the streets to assess the damage as firefighters put out the blazes.
The attack underscored growing pessimism in Ukraine and among allies that the war can end soon, as Russian President Vladimir Putin rejects calls for a ceasefire and is bolstered by increasingly close ties with China. Reuters reports.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has increasingly expressed frustration with Moscow after meeting with Putin last month, but has so far resisted imposing tougher sanctions on Russia.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said on Sunday that additional economic pressure from the United States and Europe could force Russian President Vladimir Putin to enter peace talks with Ukraine.
He stated on NBC's "Meet the Press" that President Trump's administration is "ready to increase pressure on Russia."
On Friday, he said he was still working on security guarantees for Ukraine, which he said could help end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.
Kiev's European allies have pledged to stand by Ukraine politically and militarily, but concrete offers of assistance, including the possibility of sending troops to the field, are still being considered.
Zelensky said he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, coordinating diplomatic efforts, next steps, and contacts with partners.
The largest drone attack of the war
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said this was the first time during the war that the main government building in Kiev had been hit, a symbolic blow to a well-defended part of the city.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a post on X that the Russian attack on the government in Kiev "shows once again that the prolonged postponement of a strong reaction to Putin and attempts to appease him make no sense."
Russia launched 805 drones and 13 missiles into Ukraine overnight, and Ukrainian air defenses shot down 751 drones and four missiles, the Ukrainian military said.
This was the largest number of drones used by Russia to attack Ukraine since Moscow launched its all-out invasion in February 2022.
The Russian Defense Ministry said, according to the Tass news agency, that the targets of the attacks were Ukraine's military-industrial complex and transport infrastructure. Both sides deny targeting civilians.
DON'T MISS IT
Timur Tkachenko, head of the military administration in Kiev, said the body of a newborn baby was pulled from the rubble in the Darnytsia district, where a four-story apartment building was damaged. A young woman was also killed in the district, east of the Dnieper River, he added.
The Interior Ministry said more than 20 people were wounded in the attacks on the capital. An airstrike in Kiev and the surrounding area lasted for more than 11 hours.
In the Svatovshchyna district, in western Kiev, several floors of a nine-story building were partially destroyed, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Drone debris caused fires in a 16-story building and two nine-story buildings, he added.
Ukraine targets Russian energy
Sviridenko called for more weapons for Ukraine and a global response to Russian attacks.
"We will rebuild the buildings. But the lost lives cannot be returned. The enemy terrorizes and kills our people every day across the country," Sviridenko said, according to Reuters.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced that a new meeting of Kiev's allies is planned for next week, at which air defense and deliveries for deep strikes on Russian territory will be discussed.
The Ukrainian military announced that it had carried out an overnight attack on the Druzhba oil pipeline in the Bryansk region of Russia, causing "extensive fire damage."
It is part of a strategy to target Russia's vast energy complex, which is the financial backbone of its economy and helps finance the war, according to Reuters.
Dozens of explosions also rocked the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, leaving some residents without electricity and damaging a bridge over the Dnieper River, Mayor Vitaly Maletsky said on Telegram.
Russian strikes on Kryvyi Rih, also in central Ukraine, targeted transportation and city infrastructure, city officials said, but there were no injuries.
In the southern city of Odessa, civilian infrastructure and residential buildings were damaged, and several fires broke out in apartment blocks, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. Three people were injured, he added.
Starmer: I am appalled, cowardly strikes show Putin believes he can act with impunity
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday he was appalled after Russia carried out the biggest airstrike of the war against Ukraine overnight, setting fire to the main government building in Kiev, Reuters reported.
"I am appalled by the latest brutal night-time attack on Kiev and across Ukraine, in which civilians have been killed and infrastructure damaged. For the first time, the heart of Ukraine's civilian government has been damaged. These cowardly attacks show that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin believes he can act with impunity. He is not serious about peace," Starmer said in a statement.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
