KYIV (Reuters) – Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine early on Sunday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens, in one of the most sustained attacks on the capital since the full-scale war began.
Neighboring Poland closed its airspace near two southeastern cities and its air force scrambled jets in response until the danger had passed.
Ukraine’s military said that Russia had launched 595 drones and 48 missiles overnight and its air defenses shot down 568 drones and 43 missiles. It noted that the main target of the strike was the capital Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack lasted more than 12 hours and caused widespread damage to a cardiology clinic, factories and residential buildings.
He renewed calls on the international community to act decisively to cut off Russia’s energy revenues that fund its invasion. Ukraine has so far failed to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to impose punitive sanctions on Moscow.
“The time for decisive action is long overdue, and we count on a strong response from the United States, Europe, the G7, and the G20,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
A SUSTAINED ATTACK ON THE CAPITAL
Kyiv awoke to loud explosions, drones flying overhead and air defenses booming. Smoke from one of the strike sites drifted across the morning sky as the air raid alert ended at 09:13 a.m., nearly seven hours after it began.
Reuters journalists visited an area in the suburbs of Kyiv, where two rows of newly built homes were almost totally destroyed, and cars parked nearby were flattened by falling debris.
Residents sifted through the wreckage of an apartment block after their windows were blown in by the force of an explosion.
Some residents hurried to metro stations underground, from where they followed events on their mobile phones.
Zelenskiy said the attack had targeted several regions in the north, center and south, including the southern city of Zaporizhzhia where authorities said at least 16 people had been injured.
Several buildings were badly damaged and on fire in Zaporizhzhia, footage posted on social media showed.
Emergency services said at least four people were killed, while 67 people were reported wounded across the country by local authorities.
Among the fatalities was a 12-year-old girl, although that has not been officially confirmed, Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by William Mallard and Bernadette Baum)
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