Overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv kills at least 3, wounds dozens

At least three people have been killed and dozens wounded in an overnight Russian air attack on Kyiv, according to officials in the Ukrainian capital, as Russia’s war on Ukraine approaches its four-year mark.

At least 29 people were wounded, seven of them children, in the second consecutive nighttime attack on Kyiv to claim civilian lives, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Sunday.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 101 drones overnight into Sunday, according to Ukraine’s air force, of which 90 were shot down and neutralised. Five drones hit four locations and drone debris fell on five other places, the statement said.

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said “several” Russian drones had been operating over the city and warned people to “remain in shelters”.

He said on Telegram that drone fragments fell onto a nine-storey residential building in the northeastern district of Desnyansky, sparking fires in apartments on several floors.

Fragments damaged another nine-floor block in the same district, where five people were rescued, Klitschko said, adding that “dismantling of structures is ongoing.”

More drone fragments fell on a 16-storey residential block in northern Kyiv’s Obolonsky district, damaging an apartment, Klitschko said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed on Sunday that over the previous day, its forces struck energy facilities and rail infrastructure serving Ukraine’s war effort, as well as other military targets such as troop deployment points and a drone factory.

It did not comment specifically on strikes on Kyiv, nor on the civilian casualties reported by Ukraine.

In Russia’s Bryansk region near Ukraine, two civilians were hospitalised following Ukrainian drone strikes on Sunday, according to regional Governor Alexander Bogomaz.

Sixteen people were also injured in Russia’s western Belgorod region after Ukrainian drone attacks, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

At least 26 Ukrainian drones were downed over southwestern Russia on Sunday, according to the Defence Ministry in Moscow.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks on each other’s territory, but thousands of people have been killed in the war that Russia started with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The vast majority of them have been Ukrainian, among them many civilians.

Improved weapon capabilities

The attacks came a day after other Russian drone and missile strikes killed four people in Ukraine, two of them in Kyiv, and wounded more than a dozen, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Later on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced “decisive tests are now complete” for the new nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile. He made the remarks during a meeting with military officials that was videotaped and released by the Kremlin.

He ordered the preparation of “infrastructure to put this weapon into service in the Russian armed forces”.

Putin called the missile a “unique creation that no one else in the world possesses”, adding that the Burevestnik has “unlimited range”.

During the latest test on Tuesday, the missile flew for about 15 hours, travelling 14,000km (8,700 miles), Russia’s military chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, said, adding that this was not the upper limit for the weapon.

Putin announced the Russian military’s development of the missiles in 2018 against the backdrop of a perceived threat from the United States. He said it would be able to evade all defence systems,

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump played down prospects of a summit with Putin to try to stop the war in Ukraine, saying he was “not going to be wasting [his] time”.

The remarks came as Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev continued meeting with Trump administration officials, including special envoy Steve Witkoff, in the US.

“We have been negotiating with representatives of the US administration for the third day, while in the United States,” Dmitriev said in a post on Telegram messaging app on Sunday.

“Any attempts to put pressure on Russia are simply pointless,” Dmitriev said, adding that some forces were trying to disrupt dialogue between Moscow and Washington.

The Kremlin on Sunday said it was wrong to talk about cancelling a meeting between Putin and Trump but added that preparation for it was needed, Russian news agencies reported.

In the past week, the US and European Union announced sweeping sanctions on Russian energy aimed at crippling Moscow’s war economy.

Putin said he would not bend to pressure from the West. “No self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decide anything under pressure,” he said, calling the US sanctions an “unfriendly act”.