KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky abruptly cancelled a portion of his trip to South Africa on Thursday following a devastating barrage of missiles and drones launched by Russia against Kyiv.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of at least eight people, with others trapped beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings.
While Ukraine has endured relentless aerial assaults throughout Russia’s three-year invasion, such lethal strikes on Kyiv, a city with stronger air defenses compared to others, have been less frequent.
These attacks have further complicated already delicate efforts by the United States to encourage a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
This development occurred hours after the leader of the nationalist party in the US criticized Zelensky for his refusal to concede Moscow’s occupation of Crimea as a precondition for peace.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to respond to Zelensky’s proposal for a complete cessation of air attacks targeting civilian areas. Last month, Putin dismissed a joint US-Ukrainian call for a full and unconditional ceasefire.
“It has been 44 days since Ukraine agreed to a full ceasefire and a halt to strikes… And it has been 44 days of Russia continuing to kill our people,” Zelensky stated in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The Ukrainian leader, who was on a diplomatic mission to South Africa, announced his immediate return to Ukraine after a meeting with the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa. “The strikes must be stopped immediately and unconditionally,” he emphasized.
Emergency responders initially reported nine fatalities, but later, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko informed reporters that the death toll stood at eight, with over 70 individuals injured.
Rescue teams were actively engaged in efforts to extricate people from the debris of collapsed structures, he added.
Olena Davydiuk, a 33-year-old lawyer residing in Kyiv, recounted to AFP witnessing windows shattering and doors “falling out of their hinges” during the intense bombardment. “People were being pulled out of the rubble. They said that there were dead people there too,” she added with distress.
Phone calls under rubble
According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched at least 70 missiles and 145 drones against Ukraine between late Wednesday and early Thursday, with Kyiv being the primary target. Of the 215 projectiles, 112 were “confirmed to have been shot down,” the air force reported on Telegram.
Loud explosions reverberated across the Ukrainian capital at approximately 1:00 am local time (2200 GMT), shortly after air raid sirens sounded throughout Kyiv, urging residents to seek shelter, according to AFP journalists present in the city.
Throughout the night, rescue personnel meticulously searched through the wreckage of destroyed buildings and battled fires in apartment complexes. The interior ministry reported damage at 13 separate locations within the capital.
“Phone calls can be heard from under the rubble — the search will continue until we are confident that we have found everyone,” Minister Klymenko stated, expressing concern for two children who remained unaccounted for.
In the Sviatoshinsky district, situated in the western part of Kyiv, an AFP journalist observed a body bag containing the remains of one of the victims lying on a patch of grass. Heavy construction equipment was deployed nearby to clear the extensive debris from a demolished building, while neighboring apartment blocks suffered blown-out roofs and windows.
A woman was seen sitting on a small, portable chair, gently stroking the arm of another fatality, whose body was covered with a blue and white striped sheet. Nearby, an AFP journalist witnessed a first responder attending to a woman wounded in the attack, her face bloodied and bruised as she tightly held a dog in her arms.
Killing field
Over the preceding month, Moscow’s military has intensified its aerial assaults on Ukraine, launching some of the most lethal and audacious strikes since the conflict began – a surge that appears to contradict the push by the former US leader for a swift end to the bloodshed.
A ballistic missile strike on the center of the northeastern city of Sumy on April 13th resulted in at least 35 deaths. Similarly, an attack on Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rig in early April claimed the lives of at least 19 people, including nine children, after a missile struck a residential area near a children’s playground.
Hours prior to the Kyiv attack, the former US leader had asserted that a peace agreement was “very close” – effectively settled with Moscow – while labeling Zelensky as “harder” to negotiate with. He argued that the Ukrainian president’s refusal to accept US terms for ending the conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, “will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field’.”
Russia also launched a significant attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, firing at least seven missiles and hitting a “densely populated residential area,” according to city mayor Igor Terekhov.
Separately, Russia’s defense ministry reported intercepting 87 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 45 over Crimea. Sources and related content
