Russia bombards Kyiv after Putin vows revenge for Operation Spiderweb

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Russia launched an intense missile and drone barrage at Kyiv overnight after Vladimir Putin vowed to respond to Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb attack on some of the Kremlin's nuclear-capable bombers.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had launched more than 400 drones and more than 40 missiles at Ukraine, as he urged allies to build pressure on the Kremlin to end its war. Four people were killed, including three emergency workers in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian president wrote in a social media post: 'If someone does not put pressure and gives the war more time to take lives, they are complicit and responsible. We need to act decisively.'
Missiles and drones hammered the Ukrainian capital leading fires to rage through residential buildings and forcing the local metro system to close after a train was hit.
It was part of a nationwide assault that ranks among the largest coordinated attacks in the three years of full-scale war, with 44 ballistic and cruise missiles and 407 drones launched. About 50 people were injured across the country.
Yurii Ihnat, the Ukrainian air force spokesperson, said Ukrainian forces had shot down about 30 of the cruise missiles and up to 200 of the drones.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had carried out the overnight attacks in response to what it called Ukrainian 'terrorist acts' against Russia. The Kremlin later described its three-year invasion of Ukraine as 'existential' for Russia, casting it as nothing short of a battle for the 'future' of Russia.
'For us it is an existential issue, an issue on our national interest, safety, on our future and the future of our children, of our country,' the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters, responding to remarks by Trump on Thursday comparing Moscow and Kyiv to brawling children.
On Friday night Trump was more critical of Ukraine, telling reporters on Air Force One that Operation Spiderweb had 'given Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them'.
Despite the efforts of Ukraine's air defences, the authorities in Kyiv reported that three emergency workers had been killed and 20 people wounded, of whom 16 had been hospitalised. 'Search and rescue operations are ongoing at several locations,' Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Telegram.
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According to the ministry of internal affairs, the three victims were firefighters from the state emergency service who died while responding to the attack. 'They were working under fire to help people,' the ministry said in a statement.
Operation of the city's metro transport system was disrupted after a Russian strike damaged a train travelling between stations, the city's military administration said. The air attack also triggered fires in residential buildings in different parts of Kyiv, authorities said.
A residential block in the Solomianskyi district took severe damage to the upper floors with entire windows, balcony frames, and parts of an outer wall blown away. More than 2,000 households in Kyiv's eastern bank remained without electricity on Friday morning.
Russia had previously vowed to take revenge on Ukraine after Monday's audacious drone attack, known as Operation Spiderweb, on its bomber fleet.
Initially, two TU-95MC and two TU-160MC bombers were deployed by Russia on Thursday night. This was a lower number than had been feared and may have been the result of the Kremlin's resources being reduced by the events of 1 June. Kalibr missiles were also fired from Russian warships stationed in the Black Sea.
Putin informed the US president, Donald Trump, in a call on Wednesday that Russia would respond to the operation that Ukraine has claimed damaged or destroyed 41 aircraft. 'They went deep into Russia and [Putin] actually told me we have no choice but to attack based on that, and it's probably not going to be pretty,' Trump had told reporters.
Trump said it may be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' rather than pursue peace immediately. Ukraine and Russia met for talks in Istanbul on Monday with no headway to a truce, but the two sides signalled progress on other issues, including the transfer of captives and bodies.
The barrage on Kyiv had begun with the buzz of Russian kamikaze drones followed by Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire. Through the night the city was shaken by large explosions.
Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said drones had struck the upper floors of a high-rise apartment building and started a fire in Darnytskyi district on the east side of the city. One unofficial Telegram channel said a shopping centre in the area was ablaze.
Tkachenko said a fire had also broken out in an apartment building in a western district. Drone fragments were found in three districts.
Ukraine's commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, demanded a strong international response to Russia's latest attack. 'Russia is acting like a terrorist, systematically targeting civilian infrastructure,' he wrote on Telegram. 'The world must respond clearly and take concrete steps, including condemning the aggressor's actions.'
Elsewhere in the country, 10 people were reported injured in the western city of Ternopil, including five emergency workers, said the regional governor, Viacheslav Nehoda.
Three people were injured in Ukraine's central Poltava region after strikes on administrative buildings, warehouses and a cafe. Russian forces also struck the Khmelnytskyi region, damaging a private residential building, outbuildings, and several vehicles.
Air defence forces shot down three Russian missiles in the western Lviv region overnight, according to the regional head, Maksym Kozytskyi.