Russia on Sunday launched its largest airstrike of the Ukraine war, killing at least three civilians and damaging Kyiv government’s headquarters.
The record air strike involving 810 drones, four ballistic missiles and nine cruise missile set scores of buildings on fire in capital Kyiv, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Three people, including a mother and her toddler were killed, 44 others were injured in the attack. This surpasses the size of last month’s attack by Moscow, which involved 728 drones and 13 missiles.
For the first time in the nearly four-year-war in Ukraine, Russia also targeted the building of the cabinet of ministries in Kyiv during its Sunday strike. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the building's roof and upper floors were damaged and a fire ignited due to the Russian strike. “For the first time, the government building was damaged by an enemy attack, including the roof and upper floors. We will restore the buildings, but lost lives cannot be returned,” said Yulia Svyrydenko.
It’s unknown whether the building was damaged due to debris falling or as a result of direct Russian strike, which would mark a major escalation in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said a drone may have accidentally hit the cabinet building after being intercepted, although the details remained unclear.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the attack “a deliberate crime and prolongation of the war and called for political will from the world to stop the Russian attacks. "Such killings now, at a time when real diplomacy could have started a long time ago, are a deliberate crime and an attempt to prolong the war," Zelenskiy said on social media on Sunday.
The fresh onslaught drew international condemnation. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack “cowardly” and said they proved that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was “not serious about peace”. The attack also drew threats of fresh sanctions from the US. Responding to a reporter’s question on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said he was ready to move to a second stage of sanctions against Russia over the conflict, without providing further details.
