Russia unleashed its biggest aerial assault of the war on Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least two people and igniting a fire at the seat of the Ukrainian government in Kyiv, authorities said.
An AFP reporter witnessed flames engulfing the roof of the cabinet of ministers’ building as thick smoke rose over the capital. Emergency services said drone strikes also damaged several high-rise buildings across the city.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed on Telegram that the government complex sustained serious damage. “The roof and upper floors were hit. Rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” she wrote, vowing to rebuild but lamenting the loss of lives: “We cannot bring back lost lives. The enemy terrorises and kills our people every day.”
According to Ukraine’s air force, Russia fired at least 805 drones and 13 missiles between late Saturday and early Sunday — the single largest barrage since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion three and a half years ago.
Residential strike kills infant
One strike hit a nine-story apartment building in western Kyiv, killing a mother and her two-month-old son, prosecutors said. More than a dozen others were injured. Ukraine’s emergency services released images of the burning building, its facade scorched and windows blown out.
Police cordoned off several areas of the capital as helicopters dropped water on government offices and rescue workers battled multiple blazes.
The assault came just days after more than two dozen European nations, led by France and Britain, pledged to send “reassurance” forces to Ukraine to help enforce any future peace agreement — a move Moscow has branded unacceptable. Kyiv has argued that Western-backed security guarantees are essential to prevent another Russian invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine would constitute a “legitimate” military target.
Meanwhile, efforts by US President Donald Trump to broker a peace deal have shown little progress. Russian forces currently control about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, and the war has already killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, and devastated large swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine — the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.
AFP
