Russia launched its largest aerial assault on Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least six people and setting the roof of the cabinet of ministers building in Kyiv ablaze. President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the barrage would only prolong the war.
An AFP correspondent saw flames and smoke rising from the government complex in central Kyiv as helicopters attempted to douse the fire. Police cordoned off the area, while emergency services confirmed damage to several high-rise buildings across the capital.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia fired at least 810 drones and 13 missiles overnight. A strike on a nine-storey residential block in western Kyiv killed a woman and her two-month-old son, while more than a dozen were wounded, including a pregnant woman who delivered a premature baby after the blast. Doctors are battling to save both mother and child.
Further strikes across eastern and southeastern Ukraine killed four more people and left dozens injured. In Kyiv’s suburbs, seven horses died when an equestrian club was hit.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko condemned the attacks, saying: “We will restore the buildings. But we cannot bring back lost lives. The enemy terrorises and kills our people every day.”
Moscow claimed it had targeted Ukraine’s “military-industrial complex and transport infrastructure,” but made no mention of the government building.
Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately sabotaging diplomacy: “Such killings now, when real diplomacy could have already begun long ago, are a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war.”
European leaders swiftly condemned the strikes. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote: “Once again, the Kremlin is mocking diplomacy.”
The assault came as more than two dozen European states pledged to enforce any future peace deal, with some signalling willingness to deploy troops. Kyiv insists on Western-backed security guarantees, while Vladimir Putin has warned that any Western troops in Ukraine would be considered legitimate targets.
Three and a half years into the invasion, Russia controls about 20 per cent of Ukraine. The conflict has already killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, and left vast areas of eastern and southern Ukraine in ruins—the bloodiest fighting Europe has seen since the Second World War.