Kyiv, Ukraine. Russian forces attacked Kyiv overnight, killing at least eight people and injuring 34 as drones and missiles hit residential buildings and started a fire at a hotel on a central boulevard. Ukrainian officials said about three dozen locations across the capital were damaged.
Casualties and damage
Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said eight people were killed in the attack. He said about three dozen locations across the city were damaged but gave no further details.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 34 people were injured. He said the first to sixth floors of an apartment building collapsed after a direct hit.
In an earlier post on Telegram, Klitschko said the injured included paramedics and drivers at an ambulance station. He added that some people were still trapped inside damaged residential buildings.
Scenes across the capital
Reuters video footage showed emergency services working through rubble from what had been a nine-storey building as the sun rose over Kyiv.
Pictures posted online showed a fire burning at the top of a building on central Shevchenko Boulevard. Elsewhere in the city, windows were blown out and cars were destroyed. A Reuters witness said multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv.
People carrying children, belongings, tents and pets crowded into underground stations as air raid alerts were issued for most of Ukraine’s territory on Thursday.
Official reactions
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had earlier warned of a possible overnight attack and said he was cutting short his visit to Dublin for the start of Ireland’s six-month term in the rotating presidency of the EU.
“Another horrific night for the residents of the city, who were forced to spend it in shelters,” Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, said in a post on X.
Regional response
Neighbouring Poland, a NATO and European Union member, briefly scrambled fighter jets on Thursday as a preventive measure before recalling them and saying no airspace violation was recorded.