'Massive' Russian missile attack kills nine in Kyiv
24 Apr 2025 12:27PM (Updated: 24 Apr 2025 02:31PM)
KYIV: At least nine people were killed and more than 60 wounded in a "massive" missile attack on Kyiv early on Thursday (Apr 24), Ukraine's state emergency service said, among the deadliest attacks on the capital of the three-year war.
Ukrainian authorities issued an alert for a missile attack, and AFP journalists heard explosions across the capital.
"Russia has launched a massive combined strike on Kyiv," Ukraine's state emergency service said on Telegram, updating the toll.
"According to preliminary data, nine people were killed, 63 injured," it said, adding that among the 42 people hospitalised, six were children.
Five districts across the capital suffered damage, including fires in garages and administrative buildings that have been extinguished.
The state emergency service said the attack also damaged residential buildings.
"The search for people under the rubble is underway," it said.
In a bomb shelter set up in a basement of a residential building, over a dozen residents gathered after the air alert started, an AFP journalist witnessed.
Kyiv was last hit by missiles in early April when at least three people were wounded.
It has been the target of sporadic attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In Ukraine's east, the city of Kharkiv was hit by seven missiles early Thursday, city mayor Igor Terekhov said, adding later that it was "under attack by cruise missiles for the second time in one night".
"One of the most recent strikes hit a densely populated residential area ... Two people were injured there. The inspection of the sites of enemy strikes is underway," Terekhov said, urging the city's residents to "be careful".
Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Russia was attacking Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities "with missiles and drones right now".
"Putin shows only a desire to kill," he said. "The attacks on civilians must stop."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Ex-Ubisoft executive on trial denies seeing office harassment
[BOBIGNY, France] A former executive at French video game giant Ubisoft, on trial with two others for alleged sexual and psychological harassment of employees, denied on Tuesday witnessing any abuse in the office. Serge Hascoet, the company's former chief creative officer, said that he had been unaware of incidents that prompted several employees to complain of regular public humiliation and hazing. He said he never heard any sexist or homophobic remarks or insults, but after hours of questioning admitted making some 'misplaced' comments with sexual connotations to women employees. Overall, the atmosphere in Ubisoft's open-plan offices in the eastern Paris suburb of Montreuil was 'studious and focused on work', Hascoet insisted, although he said that 'water fights' did break out 'when it got hot'. Hascoet, in his 60s, is on trial with the company's former vice-president of editorial and creative services, Thomas Francois, and former game director Guillaume Patrux. All three were dismissed for serious misconduct following an internal inquiry in 2020, and all three deny the claims made against them. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Francois is the focus of the most damning claims of systematic psychological and sexual harassment over years, including watching pornographic films in the office and commented on women employees' appearance. He allegedly forced one skirt-wearing employee to do a headstand and drew on her face with a felt-tip pen before forcing her to attend a meeting. Francois is additionally being prosecuted for an attempted sexual assault. Hascoet is accused of lewd behaviour and posing intrusive questions of a sexual nature, as well as racist comments and behaviour. Asked about the felt-pen allegation involving Francois, Hascoet said: 'I don't remember that episode at all.' When the court's judge asked about another incident, in which Hascet's company male assistant - known for selling drugs - brandished a knife to a woman employee, the ex-chief creative officer said 'I don't know' how the victim took the armed threat against her. In Monday's hearing, several women who worked under Hascoet testified that he made them run personal errands for him, including picking up his daughter from school. Hascoet said he was forced to give such orders because of lengthy meetings, and because his wife was suffering from incurable cancer. AFP
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Britain pledges to deliver 100,000 drones to Ukraine by April 2026
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian serviceman of the 13th operational NGU Khartiia Brigade with the call signs 'Chipok' controls the Vampire drone during test and training flight, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, April 22, 2025. REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File Photo LONDON - Britain pledged on Wednesday to supply 100,000 drones to Ukraine by the end of the current financial year in April 2026, marking a tenfold increase, after saying the unmanned aerial vehicles had transformed the way wars are fought. The government on Monday endorsed an independently-produced Strategic Defence Review, which calls for a more lethal, tech-driven army to counter emerging threats, including possible Russian aggression. Britain, one of Ukraine's staunchest Western supporters, plans to learn from Kyiv's more than three-year fight against Russian invasion, during which drones have transformed the battlefield. The 350-million-pound ($473 million) drone package is part of a broader 4.5-billion-pound military support initiative for Ukraine, the government said. Defence Secretary John Healey will make the announcement at a 50-nation Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting in Brussels, co-hosted with Germany. "The UK is stepping up its support for Ukraine by delivering hundreds of thousands more drones this year and completing a major milestone in the delivery of critical artillery ammunition," Healey said in a statement ahead of the meeting. In addition to the drone deliveries, Britain said it has completed the shipment of 140,000 artillery shells to Ukraine since January and will spend a further 247 million pounds this year training Ukrainian troops. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
Oil climbs 2% to two-week high on geopolitical tensions
[NEW YORK] Oil prices climbed about 2 per cent on Tuesday to a two-week high as persistent geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and the US and Iran looked set to keep sanctions on both Opec+ members Russia and Iran in place for longer. Brent crude futures rose US$1, or 1.5 per cent, to settle at US$65.63 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 89 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to close at US$63.41. 'Risk premium has ramped up this week as the prospect of a Russia/Ukraine ceasefire as well as an Iranian nuclear deal now appear to have been pushed back for weeks if not months,' analysts at energy advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note. Russia said work on trying to reach a settlement to end the war in Ukraine was extraordinarily complex and that it would be wrong to expect any imminent decisions but that it was waiting for Ukrainian reaction to its proposals. Russia is a member of the Opec+ group that includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, and was the world's second biggest producer of crude in 2024 behind only the US, according to US energy data. Opec member Iran, meanwhile, was set to reject a US nuclear deal proposal that would be key to easing sanctions on the major oil producer. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Iran was the third biggest producer of crude in Opec behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq in 2024, according to US energy data. In Canada, wildfires burning in Alberta have affected more than 344,000 barrels per day of oil sands production, or about 7 per cent of the country's overall crude output, according to Reuters calculations. Demand growth? In Europe, Euro zone inflation eased below the European Central Bank's (ECB) target last month on surprisingly benign services costs, underpinning expectations for further policy easing even as global trade tensions fuel longer-term price pressures. Central banks like the ECB use interest rates to keep inflation in check. Lower interest rates can spur economic growth and demand for oil by reducing consumer borrowing costs. But, in the US, Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said higher inflation from US import tariffs could become evident quickly, but he said it would take longer to see a tariff-induced economic slowdown. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), however, revised down its forecast for global economic growth as the fallout from US President Donald Trump's trade war takes a bigger toll on the US economy. US job openings increased in April, but layoffs posted their biggest rise in nine months, suggesting that labor market conditions were softening amid a dimming economic outlook because of tariffs. The US has asked countries to make their best offers on trade negotiations by Wednesday as US officials ramp up efforts to deliver multiple agreements to Trump before a self-imposed deadline just five weeks away. Weekly US crude draw seen Analysts forecast energy firms pulled about 1.0 million barrels of crude from US stockpiles last week, reducing inventories for a second week in a row. That compares with an increase of 1.2 million barrels during the same week last year and an average decrease of 2.3 million barrels over the past five years (2020-2024). The American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) release weekly US oil inventory data on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, respectively. REUTERS
