A massive overnight Russian attack has hit Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, killing at least two people and injuring 16, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
The attack involved 18 missiles and about 400 drones, primarily targeting the capital, Zelensky added.
Authorities in Kyiv said drone wreckage hit the roof of a residential building in the central Shevchenkivskyi district and fires burned across the city.
Residents’ sleep was interrupted for three hours as drones and missiles converged on the capital, air defences went into action and explosions reverberated. Footage on social media, not yet verified by the BBC, showed blasts in the night sky.
It followed what Ukraine described as the largest Russian aerial attack on Tuesday night, when 728 drones and 13 cruise or ballistic missiles struck cities across the country.
In the early hours of yesterday morning, Ukraine’s police reported that Russian drone strikes had hit eight districts in Kyiv.
“Residential buildings, vehicles, warehouses, office and non-residential buildings are burning,” administration head Tymur Tkachenko said in a post on Telegram.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed that a 68-year-old woman and a 22-year-old police officer at a metro station had been killed.
In Kyiv’s Podilsky district, a primary healthcare centre was “almost completely destroyed”, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.
City residents were urged to shelter until the air raid siren was lifted, and also close windows when they returned to their homes because there was a “lot of smoke” in Kyiv.
Overnight, Ukraine’s air force reported a threat of Russian drone attacks in a number of regions. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties outside Kyiv.
Russia’s military has not commented on the reported latest attack.