Russian Attack on Kyiv Kills at Least Eight

Russian forces attacked Kyiv overnight with missiles and drones, killing at least eight people and injuring 34, as strikes hit residential buildings and started a fire in a hotel on central Shevchenko Boulevard.

According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the first to sixth floors of a nine-story apartment building collapsed after a direct hit, and some people were trapped inside damaged residential buildings. Residents carrying children, belongings and pets crowded into underground stations during Russia’s worst attack on Ukraine since mid-June.

President Volodymyr Zelensky cut short his visit to Dublin after warning of a possible overnight attack. Neighboring Poland briefly scrambled fighter jets as a precaution, but later said no violation of its airspace had been recorded. Russia and Ukraine both say they do not deliberately target civilians.

Zelensky recently proposed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the more than four-year-old war, but the Kremlin leader rejected the offer. At the same time, Ukraine has intensified strikes deep into Russian territory, triggering a fuel crisis in Russia and forcing it to import gasoline from as far away as India.

On Thursday, Alexander Drozdenko, governor of Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region, said Russian forces had brought down seven drones. Finland briefly restricted air traffic over the eastern Gulf of Finland before lifting the measure. In Russia’s Belgorod region, local authorities said a man was killed and his wife injured after a drone hit their home.

(Reuters, Max)