Russian strikes kill at least 16 in 'horrific attack' on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv

Australia Broadcast Center

10 hours ago

Russia launched more than 400 drones and dozens missiles at Kyiv, killing at least 16 people and wounding many others, as negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow break down.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the latest barrage, which took place overnight on Tuesday, local time, as "one of the most horrific attacks" on Kyiv since the Kremlin launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.
Mr Zelenskyy said a total of 440 drones and 32 missiles were launched in the strikes nationwide and urged the international community not to "turn a blind eye".
"President Vladimir Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on," he said.
AFP journalists saw smoke billowing over the capital's skyline at dawn and a multiple-storey housing block gutted by the attack.
Rescue workers were scrambling to find any survivors buried beneath the rubble.
"It was probably the most hellish night in my memory for our neighbourhood," 20-year-old student Alina Shtompel told AFP.
"It is indescribably painful that our people are going through this right now."
More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has stepped up attacks despite efforts by the United States to broker a ceasefire.
Talks have stalled. Moscow has rejected the "unconditional" truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies, while Ukraine has dismissed Russia's demands as "ultimatums".
Mr Zelenskyy had been hoping to speak with US leader Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, but the US leader cut short his visit, amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
Russia hit some 27 sites in Kyiv overnight and some residents were left without electricity, officials said.
Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's military administration updated an earlier toll of 14 dead, saying two people had been pulled from the rubble at the scene of one strike.
"The search continues, as there may still be people under the ruins," he said.
One person was also killed and 10 wounded in the southern port city of Odesa, while attacks on the Sumy and Kherson regions later in the day killed two others, authorities said.
The Russian defence ministry said it had carried out precision strikes on "military-industrial facilities in the Kyiv region," in a statement similar to other releases after major attacks.
Germany vowed in response to "increase the pressure" on Russia".
"The strike showed that "Russia is using diplomacy merely as a facade," the foreign ministry wrote on X.
"Putin doesn't want a solution, he wants capitulation."
Dozens of residents took shelter in a metro station in central Kyiv, sleeping on mats, exchanging information on attack or reassuring pets, AFP journalists reported, while drones buzzed and explosions echoed out over the city.
"I was asleep. There was a loud bang. The window was smashed, and glass rained down on me," another Kyiv resident, said.
Residential buildings, educational institutions and "critical infrastructure facilities" were all hit, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said.
Kyiv's mayor reported earlier that a 62-year-old US citizen had died in a Russian strike on the capital's Solomyansky district.
Mr Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the new attacks showed Moscow was "continuing its war against civilians".
Russian state media has reported that North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and de-miners to support reconstruction work in Russia's Kursk region, another sign of expanding military partnership between the two nations.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti cited top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu as saying that North Korea will dispatch 1,000 de-miners as well as 5,000 military construction workers to the Kursk region.
The agency said Mr Shoigu spoke during a visit to Pyongyang for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
"Following the expulsion of invaders from Russian soil, we've agreed to continue our constructive cooperation, with the Korean side providing assistance in the restoration of the Kursk region," Shoigu said, according to RIA Novosti.
North Korea has already sent thousands of troops and conventional weapons to support Russia's war against Ukraine. Washington and Seoul have said North Korea may seek Russian technology transfers that could enhance its nuclear weapons program.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to independent monitors and Western intelligence agencies.
Russian forces have been steadily advancing across the sprawling front line even since the inauguration of Mr Trump brought about an uptick in US efforts to secure a halt in fighting.
AFP/AP