Russia fired scores of missiles and drones at Kyiv on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called “one of the most horrific attacks” on the capital.
The strike was one of the deadliest on Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and came as direct peace talks between the two sides appeared to stall.
Zelensky said “an entire section of an apartment block” was destroyed and rescuers were searching under the rubble for possible survivors.
AFP journalists heard drones flying over the city and explosions ringing out as Ukrainian air defence systems attempted to intercept the barrage. Dozens of residents took shelter in a metro station in central Kyiv, sleeping on mats, exchanging information on the drone and missile threat or reassuring pets.
Residents in Kyiv told AFP the attack was one of the strongest in recent memory. “It was probably the most hellish night in my memory for our neighbourhood,” 20-year-old Ukrainian student Alina Shtompel said. “It is indescribably painful that our people are going through this right now.”
Some 27 locations in Kyiv were hit, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said.
One person was also killed and 10 wounded in a strike on the southern port city of Odesa, while attacks on the Sumy and Kherson regions later in the day killed two others, authorities said.
