Russia hits main Ukrainian government building for first time
An infant was among at least two people killed during drone strikes on several residential buildings in the capital, which was under an air-raid siren for 11 hours.
Russia launched its largest aerial assault of the Ukraine war overnight into Sunday, deploying more than 800 drones and striking a Kyiv government building for the first time.
An infant was among at least two people killed during drone strikes on several residential buildings in the capital, which was under an air-raid siren for 11 hours.
Moscow’s forces launched a total of 810 drones, four ballistic missiles and nine cruise missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said. While most were shot down by air defenses, 54 drones and nine missiles hit targets across Ukraine, the air force said.
That surpasses the size of a July attack that was previously the largest of the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as “vile,” saying that “such killings now, when real diplomacy could have started a long time ago, are a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war.”
“The world can make the Kremlin’s criminals stop killing, all we need is political will,” Zelensky said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko called it a “massive attack,” saying the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Kremenchuk, and Odesa all came under fire, as well as Kyiv.
In the capital, the building that houses the prime minister’s office, as well as some government ministries, was struck in the assault, she said.
“For the first time, the Government building, its roof, and upper floors were damaged by the enemy attacks. Rescuers are extinguishing the fire. I thank them for their work,” Svyrydenko said.
The building is in Kyiv’s government quarter, next to the parliament and close to the office of the president.
“We will rebuild the buildings. But the lives lost cannot be brought back. Every day, the enemy terrorizes and kills our people across the country,” said Svyrydenko.
Rescuers found the body of an infant under the rubble of a building in the western Kyiv neighborhood of Sviatoshynskyi, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration.
The child was under the age of one, according to Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko, who said a young woman was also killed.
A nine-floor apartment building in the Sviatoshynskyi district was “severely damaged,” Klitschko said in a Telegram post, adding that four floors of the building were “partially destroyed.”
“Also in Sviatoshynskyi district, debris hit a 16-story residential building, causing a fire on the 15th and 16th floors,” Klitschko said.
There were fires at two additional multistory apartment blocks in the same district, and at another building in the eastern Darnytskyi district, he said.
At least 18 people were wounded, Ukraine’s State Emergency Services (SES) said, describing the drone strikes on the capital as a “massive attack.” The agency released images showing several buildings with large holes in the side and firefighters working at the scene.
Earlier on Sunday morning, Polish and allied aircraft were activated to ensure the safety of Polish airspace due to Russian attacks in western Ukraine near Poland’s border, the country’s armed forces said, Reuters reported.
“Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” Poland’s operational command said in a post on X.
