Ukrainian officials reported on Sunday that Russia’s most extensive overnight air assault of the conflict ignited the primary structure of the Ukrainian government in Kyiv, resulting in three fatalities, including an infant whose body was recovered from the debris.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stated on the Telegram messaging service that, for the first time, the Government building sustained damage from an enemy strike, affecting its roof and upper floors.
“Rescuers are suppressing the blaze.”
Witnesses from Reuters observed flames engulfing the uppermost level of the primary edifice of the Ukrainian government, situated in the ancient Pecherskyi area, with dense smoke ascending into the clear blue sky shortly after dawn.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported on Telegram that Russia deployed 805 drones and 13 missiles against Ukraine overnight, while Ukrainian defense forces intercepted 751 drones and four missiles.
This represented the most significant quantity of drones employed by Russia in its assaults on the nation since the onset of its comprehensive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Timur Tkachenko, the head of the capital’s military administration, stated that the infant’s body was retrieved from the debris in the Darnytskyi area, where a four-storey apartment building sustained damage.
A young woman perished due to the assault on the district located east of the Dnipro River, according to Tkachenko.
Emergency officials reported that 18 individuals sustained injuries during the overnight assault that ignited fires across the city.
Moscow refrained from providing an early response to the strikes. Both parties refute allegations of civilian targeting in the attacks; yet, many have perished in the conflict initiated by Russia’s comprehensive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Previously, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that an older woman perished in a bomb shelter in Darnytskyi, and a pregnant woman was among the injured.
Emergency personnel said that a fire ignited in two of the four levels of a residential building in the district affected by the drone strike, resulting in partial structural destruction.
DRONE FRAGMENTS
In the Sviatoshynskyi neighborhood, multiple levels of a nine-storey residential structure were partially obliterated, according to Klitschko and emergency authorities.
Debris from a falling drone ignited fires in a 16-storey residential complex and two other nine-storey structures, the mayor stated.
Svyrydenko urged further military support for Ukraine and for the global community to react to the Russian assaults.
Svyrydenko stated, “We will reconstruct the buildings.” However, deceased individuals cannot be resurrected. The adversary instills fear and exterminates our populace nationwide daily.
Smoke emanated from apartment buildings, some exhibiting partially collapsed floors and broken facades, as depicted in images shared on social media by emergency officials.
Tkachenko, the Kyiv military administrator, stated on Telegram that Russia was “deliberately and consciously targeting civilian sites.”
Numerous explosions reverberated through Kremenchuk, Ukraine’s central city, resulting in power outages in specific regions and inflicting damage on a bridge over the Dnipro River, as reported by Mayor Vitalii Maletskyi on Telegram.
Russian raids on Kryvyi Rih, located in central Ukraine, aimed at targeting transport and urban infrastructure, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city’s military administration, who reported no injuries via Telegram.
According to regional governor Oleh Kiper on Telegram, civilian infrastructure and residential structures in the southern city of Odesa sustained damage, and fires erupted in many apartment towers.
In response to the threat of air assaults on western Ukraine, Poland sent its own and allied aircraft to secure air safety, according to the operational headquarters of the Polish armed forces.
