According to regional officials early on Tuesday, Russia launched another protracted drone strike on Ukraine, killing one person, damaging large areas of Kyiv, and hitting a maternity facility in the southern port of Odesa.
Following Russia’s largest drone attack on Ukraine on Monday, the midnight strikes were part of increased operations that Moscow claimed were punitive for Kyiv’s recent blatant attacks in Russia. The attacks, which lasted for hours and affected seven of the city’s ten districts, left at least four people hospitalized, according to local officials. Following the attacks, Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, stated on Telegram that “you can’t break Ukrainians with terror.”
According to military data, air raid alarms in Kyiv and most of Ukraine lasted for five hours, ending at approximately five in the morning (0200 GMT). Timur Tkachenko, the chief of Kyiv’s military district, posted on Telegram, “It was a tough night for all of us.”
The enemy used assault drones to terrorize Kyiv nonstop throughout the night. They attacked the city’s peaceful citizens and civilian infrastructure. According to city officials, the attack caused fires in open space areas as well as residential and non-residential neighborhoods. Witnesses for Reuters saw and heard innumerable loud explosions that lit up the night sky and shook the city.
Heavy smoke was seen rising in the darkness in several sections of Kyiv in images and videos shared on Telegram channels. It was not immediately clear how big the onslaught was. Since Kyiv attacked strategic bombers at Russian air facilities on June 1, Moscow has significantly accelerated its airstrikes on Ukraine. On the same day, bridge explosives that left seven people dead and numerous others injured were also attributed by Moscow to Kyiv.
President Donald Trump of the United States has urged all sides to work toward a war resolution, but the attacks continue. For the first time in almost three years, Moscow and Kyiv resumed talks, but no real progress has been made aside from an agreement on the release of war detainees.
Along the eastern Ukrainian frontline, Russia has been moving closer on the ground in addition to launching swarms of drones and missiles in recent days. On Tuesday, it claimed to have taken more territory in the region.
Oleh Kiper, the governor of the larger Odesa region, said on Telegram that a “massive” drone attack occurred overnight in the southern port of Odesa, targeting residential structures, a maternity center, and an emergency medical facility. According to Kiper, patients and personnel were successfully evacuated from the maternity hospital, but four people were hurt in the attack on a residential area, which claimed the life of a 59-year-old man.
He shared pictures of damaged building facades and smashed windows in what appeared to be a medical facility. The war’s targeting of civilians is denied by both sides. However, the conflict has claimed thousands of civilian lives, the great majority of whom were Ukrainian.