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Russian strikes killed at least eight people in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and wounded dozens, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday morning.
“These Russian missiles and attack drones today are a clear response to everyone in the world who, for weeks and months, has been calling for a ceasefire and for real diplomacy,” he said in a post on X. “Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table.”
Zelenskyy called for further sanctions against Russia and said: “We expect a reaction from China to what is going on. China has repeatedly called for not expanding the war and for a ceasefire.”
The comment came hours after Beijing said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, would be among the leaders attending a military parade with President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week.
The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said earlier that a 14-year-old girl and another child were among the dead. The mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said 38 people were injured.
A five-storey residential building in the Darnytskyi district was hit directly. “Everything is destroyed,” Tkachenko said. A strike in central Kyiv left a major road strewn with shattered glass.
The attack affected more than 20 locations across the capital, local authorities said. Rescue teams were on site to pull people from the rubble.
Powerful explosions were heard by Agence France-Presse journalists in Kyiv on Thursday as the attack place, the news agency reported. Ukrainian officials warned of a “massive” Russian attack. According to the Associated Press, it was the first major combined Russian mass drone and missile attack on Kyiv since Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on 15 August.
The explosions illuminated the night sky and left behind a column of smoke. At least one missile appeared to be shot down as red tracer bullets sailed upwards.
Klitschko said a “massive attack on the capital” took place. Air defence forces were operating, he said, urging residents to remain in shelters.
An AFP journalist witnessed about 100 people taking refuge in a subway station, with some lying in sleeping bags and others holding their pets. Three young people were seen anxiously waiting out the bombardment in an underpass.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war have continued in recent weeks following meetings between the US president, Donald Trump, and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts. There has been little tangible progress, as the Kremlin has ducked Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer to meet one-on-one with Vladimir Putin and each day piled on caveats for any peace deal.
With Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
