New waves of deadly Russian missiles pounded Ukraine overnight Sunday while long range drone attacks by Kyiv sparked travel chaos at Moscow’s airports.
Residents of Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities faced another sleepless night on Sunday as Russia launched 450 missiles and drones overnight into Monday, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
The majority were shot down but 23 struck across three locations and debris from intercepted missiles landed in 12 areas, it added.
Nationwide air raid warnings were issued in most regions of Ukraine, with local authorities reporting at least two people killed and 16 wounded in the past 24 hours.
“Russian strikes are always an assault on humanity – in Kyiv, a kindergarten caught fire, along with residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
In Kyiv, the alert was raised at 11 p.m. Sunday local time and remained in place for eight hours, with one killed and six wounded, police said.
‘They are monsters’
Standing in the rubble of his burned-out apartment in the capital on Monday morning, Oleksandr Berdychevskyi, 38, recalled how the city was rocked by explosions overnight.
“There were three explosions. I was in bed when I heard the fourth. The door blew open and shards of glass landed on me,” he told CNN. “The balcony was on fire. I ran to the front door, but it was jammed,” he added, saying he was only able to break it down because he felt so full of adrenaline.
Berdychevskyi said all his documents and cash savings were destroyed in the fire, leaving him with just 2,000 hryvnias (about $50) in his wallet.
Cursing Russia as she sifted through the ashes, his mother, Liliya Berdichevska, could not stop crying. “They are monsters. Just monsters. How lucky that my granddaughter wasn’t home and that my son is alive,” she told CNN.
Elsewhere in Kyiv, Kateryna, who only gave her first name, was among residents who rushed into Lukianivska subway station for shelter, in the city’s northwest, where the entrance was damaged in the strikes.
“It was very scary when the attack happened,” she told Reuters, sitting on the station escalator with her husband and pet dog which the couple carried over shards and splinters in the aftermath of the strike.
“There was lots of smoke and dust, we all got very scared. There was a little panic but, because life has taught us how to behave, we’ve all gotten used to it. We cared for each other and for the animals too,” she said.
Fires broke out on the roof across several buildings and a supermarket in the city’s southeastern Darnytskyi district.
Fires were also reported in the more central districts of Shevchenkivskyi and Dniprovskiy, affecting two residential buildings and a shopping mall, with debris falling on a kindergarten in Dniprovskiy.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, city mayor Ihor Terekhov reported 12 hits including one that ignited a blaze near a multistory residential building in the Kyivskyi district to the north.
Elsewhere in the city, windows were blown out and there was damage to a road, tram tracks and electric wires.
This latest attack includes cruise and ballistic missiles as well as powerful advanced Kinzhal missiles, which are difficult to intercept, Ukraine’s Air Force confirmed.
Russia has intensified its overnight strikes in recent weeks, targeting cities far from the frontline. Earlier this month it launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine involving 728 attack and decoy drones and 13 missiles, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
Kyiv’s forces have also continued to find ways of striking deep inside Russia.
Over the weekend, thousands of passengers were forced to queue or sleep on the floor due to flight delays and cancelations at major Moscow airports sparked by long-range drone attacks, as seen in videos from Russian media.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the military downed 49 drones between Friday evening and Monday morning, with no injuries or significant damage.
Dozens more were intercepted in west and southwest regions including Kursk, Rostov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Tula and Lipetsk, the Russian defense ministry confirmed.
In his daily address on Saturday, Zelensky called for talks with Russia this week, to push forward ceasefire negotiations amid growing US pressure on Moscow to reach a deal.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was “ready to move quickly” on achieving a peace deal with Ukraine, but its “main goal” was to achieve its “objectives.”
The last round of ceasefire talks in Istanbul ended swiftly in early June, with Russian and Ukrainian delegates meeting for barely over an hour before calling it quits.
Russia put forward maximalist territorial demands as part of preconditions for a ceasefire. Ukraine has previously refused to consider any territorial concessions in exchange for peace.
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