14 killed, 44 injured in Russian strikes on Kyiv

MOSCOW (REUTERS): Waves of Russian drones and missiles struck districts across the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Tuesday, killing 14 people and injuring 44, according to the interior ministry.

The Russian attack struck 27 locations around the capital, damaging residential buildings, educational institutions, and critical infrastructure facilities, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

“Today, the enemy spared neither drones nor missiles,” he said about what he called one of the largest attacks on the city since Russia launched the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Reuters witnesses said drones swarmed over the capital, and they heard what appeared to be missiles overhead. An air raid alert remained in effect more than seven hours after it had been proclaimed.

Other parts of the country also came under attack, including a region outside the capital where one person was injured and the southern region of Odesa, where 13 people were injured, according to local authorities.

Klymenko said a ballistic missile struck a nine-storey residential building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district, destroying a section of it. He said the emergency services were racing to search through the rubble for any possible survivors.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that a 62-year-old US citizen had died in a dwelling opposite a site where medics were providing assistance during the attack. Klymenko said the man died from shrapnel wounds.

Drone attacks

Both Ukraine and Russia have launched drone attacks in recent weeks as the two sides have held two sessions of direct talks on ending the more than three-year-old war. The talks have produced agreements on freeing prisoners of war and returning the bodies of fallen soldiers, but little more.

“More strikes by Russian drones on residential buildings in Kyiv,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram. “Russia is continuing its war on civilians.”

Russian air defence units intercepted and destroyed 147 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, including the Moscow region, overnight, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.