A missile attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early Sunday killed one person and injured at least three people, city officials said, as missile and drone strikes across the country left at least one more person dead.
Russia "launched a massive nationwide attack on Ukraine using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones" in the early hours of the morning. said first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
In Kyiv, explosions were heard overnight and a dark plume of smoke rose from the city early Sunday morning. The missile strke damaged a building housing the offices of state television channels that boradcast in foreign langauges.
Current data shows that one person has been killed. Three were wounded, including two who were hospitalized.
City mayor Vitali Klitschko said that "the body of a man killed in an enemy attack was discovered in Darnytsia district. He was on the street, near the epicentre of the explosion. The man's identity is being established."
Emergency services said that during attacks, fires broke out in Kyiv in non-residential buildings, damaging a multi-storey business centre, a furniture factory and warehouses.
The emergency services posted video of smoke rising from charred debris, a gutted hangar and a large multi-storey administrative building with the roof torn off and windows blown out.
Overnight, Russia attacked Ukraine with 23 cruise and ballistic missiles and 109 drones, the Ukrainian air force said, causing damage to six regions.
The Air Force said it shot down 13 of the missiles and 40 drones, while 54 others caused no damage.
In the southern Kherson region, a drone killed a 59-year-old man. In the northeastern Kharkiv region, near the border with Russia, two were injured in an attack using guided aerial bombs, regional officials said.
In western Ukraine's Khmelnytsky region, authorities said air defences destroyed a missile. But falling fragments damaged a house and injured a woman.
The attacks come as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for a partial ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, more than three years into Moscow's full-scale invasion, seeking a thaw in ties with the Kremlin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Sunday, "The language of force is the only one that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin understands. All our partners need to switch to this language."
'Weak reaction'
The latest attacks came two days after a missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed 18 people, including nine children, on Friday evening.
Zelensky slammed the U.S. embassy for what he called a "weak" statement that did not blame Russia for the deadly missile strike on his home city.
"Unfortunately, the reaction of the American embassy is unpleasantly surprising: such a strong country, such a strong people — and such a weak reaction," he wrote.
"They are even afraid to say the word 'Russian' when talking about the missile that killed the children."
The Ukrainian president took aim at the U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink after she posted a message on X on Friday that said: "Horrified that tonight a ballistic missile struck near a playground and restaurant."
In subsequent posts, Brink has referred to Russia as the aggressor, writing on Sunday morning that Ukraine was "under a ballistic and cruise missile attack from Russia."
On Sunday, Zelensky said that the number of air attacks from Russia was increasing, proving that international pressure on Moscow was insufficient.
Talks with French, British military chiefs
Trump is pushing the two sides to agree to a ceasefire. But his administration has failed to broker an accord acceptable to both.
Zelensky on Saturday hailed "tangible progress" after meeting British and French military chiefs in Kyiv on Friday to discuss a plan by London and Paris to send a "reassurance" force to Ukraine if and when a deal on ending the conflict is reached.
The Ukrainian president wrote on social media that the meeting with British Chief of the Defence Staff Tony Radakin and French counterpart Thierry Burkhard had agreed "the first details on how the security contingent of partners can be deployed".
This is one of the latest efforts by European leaders to agree on a coordinated policy after Trump sidelined them and opened direct talks with the Kremlin.
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