Photos: Fires and destruction as missile attacks rattle Ukraine's capital
Russia launched a barrage of missile and drone attacks on Kyiv, killing at least six people – including a six-year-old boy and his mother – and injuring 52, according to Ukrainian officials.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Russian forces launched more than 300 drones and eight missiles, targeting residential buildings throughout the capital.
'Today the world has once again seen Russia's response to our desire for peace with America and Europe. Therefore, peace without strength is impossible,' Zelenskyy said on the Telegram app.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed nine children were wounded in the attack, the highest number of child casualties in a single night in the city since Russia's full-scale invasion began nearly three and a half years ago.
Yurii Kravchuk, 62, stood beside a damaged building wrapped in a blanket with a bandage around his head. He told the Reuters news agency he heard the missile alert but could not shelter in time.
'I started waking up my wife and then there was an explosion… My daughter ended up in the hospital.'
Emergency responders battled fires and cut through concrete blocks searching for survivors across the city.
Explosions rocked Kyiv for hours as fires lit up the night sky. Officials stated that 27 locations were hit, including schools and hospitals.
The air force documented five direct missile hits and 21 drone attacks across 12 locations.
Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has escalated air attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities far from the front line in recent months.
United States President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his country would impose tariffs and other measures on Russia 'ten days from today' if Moscow showed no progress towards ending the conflict.
'This is Putin's response to Trump's deadlines,' Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. 'The world must respond with a tribunal and maximum pressure.'
Zelenskyy shared a video of burning ruins, stating that people remained trapped under the rubble of a partially destroyed residential building.
Ukrainian air defence units intercepted 288 attack drones and three cruise missiles, the air force reported.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
German police make arrests at protest for slain Al Jazeera journalists
German police make arrests at protest for slain Al Jazeera journalists NewsFeed Footage from pro-Palestinian activists captured Berlin police forcefully arresting demonstrators protesting the Israeli assassination of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza. Video Duration 00 minutes 41 seconds 00:41 Video Duration 03 minutes 22 seconds 03:22 Video Duration 02 minutes 03 seconds 02:03 Video Duration 00 minutes 35 seconds 00:35 Video Duration 01 minutes 12 seconds 01:12 Video Duration 03 minutes 03 seconds 03:03 Video Duration 02 minutes 50 seconds 02:50
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Norway wealth fund divests from several Israeli companies due to Gaza war
Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund says it is terminating all contracts with asset managers handling its Israeli investments and has divested parts of its portfolio. The announcement on Monday came after an urgent review launched last week after media reports said the fund had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel's military, including the maintenance of fighter jets, as Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and the Palestinian population rages. The fund, an arm of Norway's central bank and the world's largest, held stakes in 61 Israeli companies as of June 30 but in recent days divested stakes in 11 of these, it said in a statement. 'We have now completely sold out of these positions,' the fund said, adding that it is continuing to review Israeli companies for potential divestments. 'These measures were taken in response to extraordinary circumstances. The situation in Gaza is a serious humanitarian crisis,' Nicolai Tangen, the CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, said in a statement. 'We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened. In response, we will further strengthen our due diligence.' The fund stated that it has 'long paid particular attention to companies associated with war and conflict'. 'We constantly monitor companies' risk management related to conflict zones and respect for human rights,' it said. The Norwegian government began its review after Aftenposten, the country's leading newspaper, revealed that the fund had a stake in Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd (BSEL), which provides parts to Israeli fighter jets that are being deployed in the war on Gaza. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store had said at the time that the investment was 'worrying'. The sovereign fund, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, has sold its stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecommunications group in the past year. In June, Norway's largest pension fund also decided to sever its ties with companies doing business with Israel. That same month, however, Norway's parliament rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in occupied Palestinian territory. Several of Europe's biggest financial firms have cut back their links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country, according to an analysis of filings by the Reuters news agency, as pressure mounts from activists and governments to end the war in Gaza. Last month, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, called on countries to cut off all trade and financial ties with Israel, including a full arms embargo, and withdraw international support for what she termed an 'economy of genocide'. In a report titled From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, Albanese detailed 'the corporate machinery sustaining Israel's settler-colonial project of displacement and replacement of the Palestinians in the occupied territory'. The report singled out companies – including arms manufacturers, technology giants, heavy machinery companies and financial institutions – for their 'complicity' in Israel's repression of Palestinians from sustaining Israeli expansions onto occupied land to enabling the surveillance and killings of Palestinians.
Al Jazeera
8 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Anas and Mohammed, journalists slain by Israel, remembered as role models
Late Sunday evening, Israel's military targeted Al Jazeera Arabic's Gaza correspondents Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh and three others, killing them in a drone strike against their media tent at the gate of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The slain journalists had spent the past 22 months documenting the ongoing conflict and its impact on their community. Al-Sharif, 28, and Qreiqeh, 33, are both survived by their wives and a baby boy and a girl. Qreiqeh, who was an only child, had lost his mother in Gaza in March 2024, when Israeli forces stormed al-Shifa Hospital. He searched for his mother for two weeks, eventually finding her decomposing body on the stairs of the facility. Witnesses said she was shot and killed in cold blood. Despite the personal grief and excruciating circumstances, both al-Sharif and Qreiqeh continued to document Israel's war in Gaza, which is increasingly being deemed a genocide by critics worldwide. Al-Sharif's last tweet on X, posted minutes before he was killed, warned that Israel's latest plan to invade Gaza risked muzzling Palestinian voices in the besieged enclave. 'If this madness doesn't end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people's voices silenced, their faces erased – and history will remember you as a silent witness to a genocide that you chose not to stop,' he posted. Sacrifice and courage Like all Palestinians in Gaza, al-Sharif and Qreiqeh were born and raised under Israeli occupation. For most of their lives, Israel has imposed a full land, sea and air blockade over the enclave, effectively turning it into what human rights groups describe as an open-air prison. The siege affected every aspect of Palestinian life – livelihoods, travel and family connections and compelled al-Sharif and Qreiqeh to dedicate their lives to telling the world about their people's struggle under Israel's brutal occupation. Al-Sharif studied media studies at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza and was known for his reporting on the Israeli military campaign that began on October 7, 2023, documenting its humanitarian and civilian impacts. Yaser al-Banna, a Palestinian journalist in Gaza, said that when Israel ordered the entire population of 2.2 million Palestinians to flee south – an act that likely amounts to a war crime – al-Sharif stayed in the north to document the events and actions of the Israeli military. 'His life was in danger from Israeli strikes [at the time in the north]. But he still went to the scene of every Israeli blast to uncover Israel's crime, just five minutes after it happened,' al-Banna told Al Jazeera. Al-Banna added that he had formed a strong professional relationship with Qreiqeh since last year. At the time, al-Banna was in southern Gaza and Qreiqeh was in the north, and they often traded contacts and exchanged information to better cover the humanitarian impact of Israel's genocidal war. 'He never waited a moment to help me or to help anybody,' al-Banna said of Qreiqeh. 'My impression of Qreiqeh was that he was always patient and calm.' Colleagues and friends In October 2024, Israel published unsubstantiated claims that al-Sharif was among six Palestinian journalists affiliated with a Hamas cell, which Al Jazeera has repeatedly denied. Human rights groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), note that Israel often brands Palestinian journalists as 'terrorists' without providing proof. From then on, al-Sharif knew his life was in danger. 'All of this is happening because my coverage of the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip harms them and damages their image in the world. They accuse me of being a terrorist because the occupation wants to assassinate me morally,' he told CPJ in July. The Israeli threats made some in Gaza hesitant to give al-Sharif interviews out of fear that Israel could kill him and everyone around him at any moment. Still, most commended his bravery and continued to support him as he reported from the eye of the storm. Al-Banna added that Qreiqeh continued to work with al-Sharif, despite the risks. They knew that they could both die at any time from Israeli bombardment. 'The relationship between them was very strong,' al-Banna said, acknowledging that most people knew al-Sharif would likely be targeted. 'Journalists in Gaza became closer to al-Sharif. We accepted that we would all live together and then die together,' al-Banna added. Carrying the torch Speaking from Al Jazeera's studio in Doha, Qatar, their colleague Tamer Almisshal revealed that both al-Sharif and Qreiqeh were mentally and physically exhausted leading up to their deaths. They hardly turned off their phones because Israel was killing so many people, forcing them to report on the extermination of their people every waking moment, he explained. 'These are journalists. These are role models,' Almisshal said, holding back tears. 'I'm making a pledge, after the death of Anas: We will continue to spread their message responsibly and with full professionalism,' he added. This is a sentiment shared by journalists across Gaza who are bearing the burden of reporting on Israel's genocide alone. Since October 7, Israel has banned the entry of international reporters and killed nearly 270 journalists and media workers in Gaza. Saleh Jafar, 28, is a Palestinian journalist in Gaza who is vowing to keep the memory of his colleagues alive. He said Israel is targeting the media to stop the world from seeing its crimes in Gaza. 'They can't silence the rest of us. There are a million more [voices in Gaza] like Anas, and there are a million more [voices] like Mohammed. 'Our voices and footage will continue to be [broadcast] in the face of [Israeli] terror and threats.'
