At least nine people have been killed and dozens injured in Russian ballistic missile strikes on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced. Moscow has recently escalated deadly ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, prompting Zelensky to state that missile interceptors are urgently needed.
The strikes occurred on Saturday, with Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko reporting that the capital had come under a ballistic missile attack, and AFP noting more than 10 explosions. Fires broke out across the city, and power cuts were reported in some areas. A residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district was partially destroyed, trapping people inside, according to emergency services.
In the Darnytskyi district, at least seven people were killed and 14 were injured, including two children, emergency services reported. In the Solomyanskyi district, two people died and eight were injured, including two children, as a five-storey residential building was partially destroyed, officials said.
The attacks come two days after a suspected Russian cruise missile landed in Poland during a widespread attack on Ukraine that killed at least eight people, including six members of one family. A missile also landed near the Lithuanian embassy in Kyiv, breaking windows and scattering debris in the compound, Lithuania's foreign ministry stated.
Separately, Ukrainian drones sank a Russian-owned container ship, the Yanina, in the Black Sea on Saturday. President Zelensky announced in a post on X that the sanctioned ship had been "sent to the bottom." Moscow confirmed the attack in a statement from state-owned nuclear operator Rosatom, which owns the ship. Rosatom stated that the ship had been transporting civilian goods, including frozen food and construction materials, and that the attack took place 130 miles (209km) from Novorossiysk. Rosatom's CEO Alexey Likhachev called the attack "piracy and robbery," adding that all 17 crew members were rescued and in a "satisfactory" condition.
Ukraine has targeted Russian-flagged ships in the Black Sea since Russia's full-scale invasion of the country in 2022. The country has also escalated its retaliatory strikes in recent months, including attacks on several retail warehouses belonging to Russia's biggest online retailer, Wildberries. Kyiv states it is targeting logistics hubs used by Russians to buy military equipment and disrupting supplies to the Russian army.
The attacks on Kyiv follow President Zelensky's recent meetings, including with President Donald Trump in Washington D.C., to urge the US to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Ukraine has become reliant on these interceptors, which remain the only weapon in its arsenal capable of downing ballistic missiles, as it faces shortages of Patriot supplies amid stepped-up Russian air attacks. Trump, when asked about the missiles, stated that the US had not agreed to Ukraine building Patriot missiles but that talks were ongoing, emphasizing that the US had to be "very careful about letting somebody build them" and calling it "a big step." Zelensky also mentioned a phone call with US Vice-President JD Vance, stating that air defence, specifically Patriot interceptors against ballistic missiles, remains a top priority.
The emergency services said at least seven people were killed in a strike in the Darnytskyi district. Another 14 were injured, including two children, it reported.
Emphasising concerns about sharing advanced US weaponry, Trump called it "a big step".
