KYIV (Reuters) -Russian forces launched a massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv early on Friday, striking residential buildings and triggering explosions and fires across the Ukrainian capital, officials said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said initial reports showed three dead, while 26 people were injured, four of them being treated in hospital, including a pregnant woman and one in very serious condition.
Falling debris and fires damaged high-rise apartment buildings, a school, a medical facility and administrative buildings across the city of about 3 million, officials said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said about 30 residences were damaged, urged counterparts to swiftly implement strong measures discussed at a meeting of G7 nations in Canada.
“This brutal Russian attack demonstrates the urgent need for new contributions to Ukraine’s defence and new steps to increase pressure on Russia, including the long-awaited decision on frozen assets,” Sybiha wrote on X.
Klitschko said Kyiv’s heating system also suffered damage, with service interrupted in one district, but emergency outages had been resolved.
Three high-rise residential buildings were damaged in the Dniprovskyi district east of the Dnipro River, he added, with nine residents evacuated from one that was ablaze.
Pictures showed flames rising over the city at various sites, as residents huddled in rubble-strewn streets outside apartment buildings after the attack.
The governor of the Kyiv region outside the capital said drone and missile attacks injured six people, including a seven-year-old child, and triggered several fires.
Ukraine’s air force said Russian drones and guided bombs were targeting several other regions.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Bogdan Kochubey; Editing by Nia Williams and Clarence Fernandez)
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