Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he’s cutting short his official trip to South Africa and returning home after a Russian strike on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, killed at least eight people and injured more than 70.
Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that he would fly back to Kyiv after meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ivan Antypenko /Suspilne Ukraine / JSC “UA:PBC” / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images 
The Ukrainian leader had hoped to recruit further South African support in efforts to end his country’s war with Russia, now in its fourth year.
The attack on Kyiv came hours after peace negotiations appeared to stall Wednesday, with President Trump lashing out at Zelenskyy, saying he was prolonging the “killing field” by pushing back on ceding Crimea to Russia as part of a potential peace plan. Later in the day, Mr. Trump said “it’s been harder” to deal with Zelenskyy than with Russia.
Zelenskyy has said multiple times that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country. He noted Thursday that Ukraine had agreed to a U.S. ceasefire proposal 44 days ago, as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Russia’s attacks had continued.
While talks have been going on in recent weeks, Russia has hit the city of Sumy, killing more than 30 civilians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs.
Senior U.S. officials have warned that the Trump administration could soon give up its efforts to stop the war if the two sides don’t compromise.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the latest attack showed Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to press his bigger army’s advantage on the roughly 620-mile front line, where it currently holds the momentum.
“Putin demonstrates through his actions, not words, that he does not respect any peace efforts and only wants to continue the war,” Sybiha said on X. “Weakness and concessions will not stop his terror and aggression. Only strength and pressure will.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Russian attacks haves killed some 13,000 civilians, including 618 children.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 66 ballistic and cruise missiles, four plane-launched air-to-surface missiles, and 145 Shahed and decoy drones at Kyiv and four other regions of Ukraine.
According to the Reuters news agency, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asserted Thursday that Zelenskyy was refusing to make any concessions in the peace talks and would only agree to a ceasefire on his own terms.
Ivan Antypenko / Suspilne Ukraine / JSC “UA:PBC” / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images 
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told Reuters eight people had been confirmed killed in the capital. Officials had said earlier that nine were killed.
At least 42 people were hospitalized in Kyiv, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. Operations were still underway early Thursday searching for bodies under the rubble.
At a Kyiv residential building that was almost entirely destroyed, emergency workers removed rubble with their hands, rescuing a trapped woman who emerged from the wreckage covered in white dust and moaning in pain.
An elderly woman sat against a brick wall, face smeared with blood, her eyes fixed to the ground in shock as medics tended to her wounds.
Fires were reported in several residential buildings, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the city military administration.
The attack, which began around 1:00 a.m., hit at least five neighborhoods in Kyiv. In the Sviatoshynkskyi district, a blaze broke out in a residential building that was damaged in the attack.
The Associated Press saw rescue teams dig out people trapped under the rubble of the building and bodies being taken away.
Oksana Bilozir, a student, suffered a head injury in the attack. With blood seeping from her bandaged head, she said she heard a loud explosion after the air alarm blared and began to grab her things to flee to a shelter when another blast caused her home’s walls to crumble and the lights to go off.
“I honestly don’t even know how this will all end; it’s very scary,” said Bilozir, referring to the war against Russia’s invasion. “I only believe that if we can stop them on the battlefield, then that’s it. No diplomacy works here.”
More fires were reported in the Shevchenkivsky and Holosiivskyi districts.
Anastasiia Zhuravlova, 33, a mother of two, was sheltering in a basement after multiple blasts damaged her home. Her family was sleeping when the first explosion shattered their windows and sent kitchen appliances flying in the air. Shards of glass rained down on them as they rushed to take cover in the corridor.
“After that we came to the shelter because it was scary and dangerous at home,” she said.
