Ukraine war: Russia launches 550 drones, 11 missiles on Kyiv

Russia launched 550 drones and missiles on Kyiv in its most extensive aerial assault since the full-scale invasion began overnight into Friday, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The strikes came hours after a phone call between US President, Donald Trump and Russian President, Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said he was “disappointed” that Putin was not ready to end the war against Ukraine.

A woman was killed in Russia following Ukrainian drone attacks, officials said.

The acting governor of Russia’s southern Rostov region said she was killed in a strike on a village not far from the Ukrainian border.

Russia’s overnight air strikes broke another record, Ukraine’s air force said, with 72 of the 550 drones penetrating air defences – up from a previous record of 537 launched last Saturday night.

Air raid alerts sounded for more than eight hours as several waves of attacks struck Kyiv, the “main target of the strikes”, the air force said on the messaging app Telegram.

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky condemned one of the most “demonstratively significant and cynical” attacks of the war, describing a “harsh, sleepless night”.

Noting that it came directly after Putin’s call with Trump, Zelensky added in a post on Telegram: “Russia once again demonstrates that it does not intend to end the war”.

He called on international allies – particularly the US – to increase pressure on Moscow and impose greater sanctions.

Footage shared on social media by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed firefighters battling to extinguish fires in Kyiv after Russia’s large-scale overnight attack.

At least 23 people were wounded in the attacks on Kyiv, according to Ukrainian authorities, with railway infrastructure damaged and schools, buildings and cars set ablaze across the capital. Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said the Polish embassy had also been damaged.

(BBC)

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