There has been at least one death and a series of injuries caused by Russian air raids on Kyiv and southern Ukraine. The move is coming after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the United States for being “weak” in responding to a past raid in his native city that took 19 lives, including nine children.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported airstrikes early Sunday morning set ablaze serious fires in non-residential buildings in three districts. There was also a ballistic missile strike on the office of Ukraine’s State Foreign Broadcasting Enterprise, which destroyed its newsroom.
In the southern Mykolaiv region, Governor Vitaliy Kim said a missile hit at around 10 PM on Saturday, damaging homes and injuring four individuals. Zelenskyy emphasized on Telegram that these kinds of attacks prove Russia’s intention to “continue to fight and kill” despite international diplomatic work, stating that there should be “no easing of pressure” placed on Russia.
Al Jazeera correspondent Zein Basravi pointed out the gravity of the situation, that Kyiv hadn’t seen a strike of such scale in some time and the majority of the damage was to civilian targets. The entire nation was put on air alert when Ukraine’s air force threatened potential attacks, prompting NATO to scramble planes for defense.
The Ukrainian air defense forces downed 13 out of 23 missiles and 40 out of 109 drones launched by Russia in the attack during the early hours. The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that they had destroyed 11 Ukrainian drones.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk condemned the strike on Kryvyi Rih as evidencing “a reckless disregard for civilian life.” Zelenskyy condemned the US embassy response as “weak,” stating that Russia is not interested in peace.
