Russian strikes kill 12 in Kyiv, hit railway depot

At least 12 people have been killed and 20 others injured, including two children, after Russian missile and drone strikes hit Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and surrounding areas.

Officials said six of those killed in Kyiv were railway workers employed by the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia after a depot was struck during the overnight attacks. Fires broke out in three districts of the capital.

Four other people were killed in the town of Boryspil after a residential building was hit. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivsky said one of the victims was an Indian national who had turned 26 on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched a large number of drones and ballistic missiles, with eight other Ukrainian regions also coming under attack. Nearly 350 rescue workers were deployed overnight in Kyiv and the surrounding region.

Russia’s military said its strikes targeted Ukraine’s military-industrial and fuel-energy facilities, describing the operation as a “massive strike using high-precision weapons”.

The latest attacks came days after Russian strikes killed 38 people at a weapons depot in the Kyiv region, triggering explosions involving shells, mines and drones.

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Ukraine has also continued carrying out attacks inside Russia. One person was killed in Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s western Belgorod region, according to acting regional Governor Aleksandr Shuvaev.

Separately, a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at the major Russian Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga. The port handles millions of tonnes of petroleum products each year and Ukraine considers such facilities legitimate targets because they contribute to Russia’s war effort.

The overnight strikes come as international pressure continues on Moscow to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

(BBC News)