Kyiv, Ukraine
Early Saturday morning, Russia conducted missile and drone strikes against Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. Local authorities reported one fatality and over 20 individuals wounded. These events occurred a day prior to scheduled talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials.
Impact and Damage
The strikes, which included ballistic missiles and drones, resulted in explosions across the city for several hours, beginning in the early morning and continuing into daylight.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported damage to over 10 residential buildings. Evacuation efforts were undertaken at sites with collapsed structures. A body was recovered from the debris of one damaged building.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's City Military Administration, stated that seven locations across Kyiv were affected, with two children among the injured.
Specific incidents included a fire at an 18-story residential building in the Dnipro district and a hit on a 24-story residential building in the Darnytsia district. Additional fires were reported in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivsky districts.
Ukraine's Emergency Service indicated that strikes in the broader Kyiv region impacted industrial and residential buildings. In the Vyshhorod area, one individual was rescued from a destroyed house.
Ukrainian Officials' Statements
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia targeted Ukraine with nearly 500 drones and 40 missiles of various types. He identified energy and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv as primary targets. Some districts in the region experienced electricity and heating outages due to these strikes.
Zelenskyy commented on the timing of the attacks ahead of his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, which is intended to address the conflict. He noted that discussions are planned to cover security guarantees and territorial matters in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Zelenskyy further remarked on Russia's response to peace proposals, stating, "Russian representatives hold long talks, in reality the 'Kinzal' and 'Shaheds' (drones) speak for them."