A Russian missile attack on Kyiv on Thursday killed at least nine and wounded dozens in one of the deadliest strikes on the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched its invasion over three years ago.
Russian air attacks throughout the war have battered Ukraine, but deadly strikes on Kyiv, which is better protected by air defenses than other cities, are less common.
Loud blasts had sounded over the Ukrainian capital at around 1:00 a.m. after air raid sirens rang out across Kyiv, warning residents to head to shelters, AFP journalists on the ground heard.
During the night, rescue workers sifted through the rubble of destroyed buildings and tackled blazes in apartment blocks. At least nine people were killed and more than 60 wounded, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.
"Russia has launched a large-scale combined strike on Kyiv," the agency said on Telegram. "According to preliminary information, nine people were killed, 63 wounded."
The attacks throw yet more doubt on already fraught U.S. efforts to push Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky for refusing to accept Moscow's occupation of the Crimean peninsula as a condition for peace.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to respond to Zelensky's proposal to halt air attacks on civilian targets completely. Last month, the Kremlin leader also rejected a U.S.-Ukrainian call for a full and unconditional ceasefire.
"Putin shows only a desire to kill," Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Zelensky, said as Russia unleashed its attack overnight. "The attacks on civilians must stop."
Photos published by Ukraine's State Emergency Service showed first responders in Kyiv using search dogs to scour through piles of smoking debris, as well as medics carrying a wounded man into the back of an ambulance on a stretcher.
Among 42 people hospitalized, six were children, the agency said.
Kyiv was last hit by missiles in early April when at least three people were wounded. It has been the target of sporadic attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russia's military has launched some of its most deadly and brazen air attacks on Ukraine over the last month, defying Trump's push to bring a rapid end to the war.
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