The barrage killed one particular person and wounded not less than 26 others, together with a toddler, and inflicted extreme harm throughout a number of districts of the capital in a seven-hour onslaught, authorities mentioned.
Blasts lit up the evening sky and echoed throughout town as air raid sirens wailed.
The blue lights of emergency autos mirrored off high-rise buildings, and particles blocked metropolis streets.
Russia has been stepping up its long-range assaults on Ukrainian cities. Lower than every week in the past, Russia launched what was then the biggest aerial assault of the battle.
That technique has coincided with a concerted Russian effort to interrupt by means of elements of the roughly 1000-kilometre entrance line, the place Ukrainian troops are underneath extreme stress.
Russia launched 550 drones and missiles throughout Ukraine in the course of the evening, the nation’s air drive mentioned. The bulk had been Shahed drones, however Russia additionally launched 11 missiles within the assault.
Alya Shahlai, a 23-year-old Kyiv wedding ceremony photographer, mentioned that her residence was destroyed within the assault.
“We had been all within the [basement] shelter as a result of it was so loud, staying residence would have been suicidal,” she informed The Related Press.
“We went down 10 minutes earlier than after which there was a loud explosion and the lights went out within the shelter, individuals had been panicking.”
5 ambulances had been broken whereas responding to calls, officers mentioned, and emergency companies eliminated greater than 300 tons of rubble.
Trump ‘not blissful’ with Russia’s assaults
On Friday, Trump and Zelenskyy had a “essential and significant” dialog by cellphone, mentioned Andriy Yermak, the top of Ukraine’s presidential workplace. He mentioned that particulars of the talks can be offered later.
US-led worldwide peace efforts have been fruitless to this point. Latest direct peace talks have led solely to sporadic exchanges of prisoners of battle, wounded troops and the our bodies of fallen troopers. No date has been set for additional negotiations.
Ukrainian officers and the Russian Defence Ministry mentioned one other prisoner swap came about on Friday, although neither aspect mentioned what number of troopers had been concerned.
Zelenskyy mentioned many of the Ukrainians had been in Russian captivity since 2022. The Ukrainian troopers had been labeled as “wounded and significantly unwell”.
When requested if he made any progress throughout his name with Putin on a deal to finish the combating in Ukraine, Trump mentioned: “No, I did not make any progress with him right now in any respect.”
“I am very upset with the dialog I had right now with President Putin as a result of I do not assume he is there. I do not assume he is seeking to cease [the fighting], and that is too unhealthy,” Trump mentioned.
In accordance with Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s overseas affairs adviser, the Russian chief emphasised that Moscow will search to realize its objectives in Ukraine and take away the “root causes” of the battle.
“Russia won’t again down from these objectives,” Ushakov informed reporters after the decision.
Russia’s military crossed the border on February 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was wanted to guard Russian-speaking civilians in jap Ukraine and stop the nation from becoming a member of NATO. Zelenskyy has repeatedly known as out Russian disinformation efforts.
Pentagon halts deliveries of air defence missiles
The US has paused some shipments of navy help to Ukraine, together with essential air protection missiles. Ukraine’s foremost European backers are contemplating how they may also help choose up the slack. Zelenskyy says plans are afoot to construct up Ukraine’s home arms trade, however scaling up will take time.
The Ukrainian response must be speedy as Russia escalates its aerial assaults. Russia launched 5438 drones at Ukraine in June, a brand new month-to-month file, in accordance with official knowledge collated by The Related Press.
Ukrainian Overseas Minister Andrii Sybiha mentioned earlier this week that Russia additionally launched greater than 330 missiles, together with practically 80 ballistic missiles, at Ukrainian cities and cities that month.
All through the evening, AP journalists in Kyiv heard the fixed buzzing of drones overhead and the sound of explosions and intense machine gun hearth as Ukrainian forces tried to intercept the aerial assault.
“Completely horrible and sleepless evening in Kyiv,” Sybiha wrote on social media platform X.
“One of many worst to this point.”
Ukraine’s Financial system Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko described “households operating into metro stations, basements, underground parking garages, mass destruction within the coronary heart of our capital”.
“What Kyiv endured final evening, can’t be known as something however a deliberate act of terror,” she wrote on X.
Kyiv was the first goal of the countrywide assault. No less than 14 individuals had been hospitalised, in accordance with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Zelenskyy known as the Kyiv assault “cynical.” In Moscow, the Defence Ministry claimed its forces focused factories producing drones and different navy tools in Kyiv.
Russia strikes 5 Ukrainian areas
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 270 targets, together with two cruise missiles. One other 208 targets had been misplaced from radar and presumed jammed.
Russia efficiently hit eight places with 9 missiles and 63 drones. Particles from intercepted drones fell throughout not less than 33 websites.
Along with the capital, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Kyiv areas additionally sustained harm, Zelenskyy mentioned.
Emergency companies reported harm in not less than 5 of Kyiv’s 10 districts.
