Russia pounded Ukraine’s capital with another mass missile and drone attack overnight into Thursday, causing fires in areas across the city with at least two people reported killed and 13 injured.
Ukraine reported the biggest ever Russian aerial attack on Tuesday night, after 728 drones and 13 cruise or ballistic missiles struck cities around the country in multiple waves, reports news agencies.
Authorities in Kyiv say drone wreckage hit the roof of a residential building in the central Shevchenkivskyi district.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Kyiv’s military administration reported Russian drone strikes in six city districts. “Residential buildings, vehicles, warehouses, office and non-residential buildings are burning,” administration head Tymur Tkachenko said in a post on Telegram.
“Unfortunately, we have two dead,” he later said. “These people were killed by the Russians. This is a terrible loss”.
City residents have been urged to shelter until the air raid siren is lifted, and also close the windows when they return to their homes because there is a “lot of smoke” in Kyiv.
Overnight, Ukraine’s air force reported a threat of Russian drone attacks in a number of regions. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties outside Kyiv, says BBC.
Russia’s military has not commented on the reported latest attack.
It comes after US President Donald Trump expressed growing frustration at the Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “He’s very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was “pretty calm about this. Trump’s way of talking is generally quite harsh, the phrases he uses.”
The two leaders have been in regular contact but this has so far failed to translate into tangible steps towards a ceasefire in Ukraine – something Trump once said he would be able to achieve in a day.
Trump has been threatening sanctions on Russia since taking office in January but has so far not imposed any.