KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with missiles and drones early Saturday morning, killing one and wounding over 20 people a day before talks between Ukraine and the U.S., local authorities said.
Explosions boomed across the capital for hours as ballistic missiles and drones hit the city. The attack began in the early morning hours Saturday and was continuing as day broke.
The attack came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday for further talks in an effort to end the nearly 4-year-old war. Zelenskyy said they plan to discuss issues including security guarantees and territorial issues in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Russia targeted Ukraine with almost 500 drones and 40 missiles of various types, Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram. The main target was energy and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, he said. In some districts of the region there is no electricity or heating because of the attacks, he added.
“There have been many questions these days. Where is the Russian response to the proposals to end the war, which were made by the United States and the world?” Zelenskyy said. “Russian representatives hold long talks, in reality the ‘Kinzal’ and ‘Shaheds’ (drones) speak for them.”
There were over 10 damaged residential buildings in the attack, said Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, in a post on Telegram. People were being evacuated from under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Two children were among those wounded in the attack, which affected seven locations across the city of Kyiv said the head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko in a statement on Telegram. A body was found under the rubble of one damaged building, said Klymenko.
A fire broke out in an 18-story residential building in the Dnipro district of the city, and emergency crews rushed to the scene to contain the flames.
A 24-story residential building in the Darnytsia district was also hit, Tkachenko said, and more fires broke out in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivsky districts.
In the wider Kyiv region, the strikes hit industrial and residential buildings, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service. In the Vyshhorod area, emergency crews rescued one person found under the rubble of a destroyed house.
