KYIV — Russia launched its largest aerial assault of the war against Ukraine early Sunday, striking the heart of Kyiv and setting government buildings ablaze in an unprecedented escalation of the three-and-a-half-year conflict, according to Hurriyet Daily News.
Authorities said at least two people were killed after hundreds of drones and missiles rained down overnight, including a strike on Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers complex — the first time the seat of government has been directly hit. The attack also ignited fires in residential neighborhoods, where emergency crews battled flames consuming high-rise apartments.
“The roof and upper floors were damaged due to an enemy attack. Rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on Telegram. “We will restore the buildings. But we cannot bring back lost lives.”
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched at least 805 drones and 13 missiles in the assault, a grim new record. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes as deliberate attempts to prolong the war at a moment when international diplomacy has edged closer to the negotiating table.
“Such killings now, when real diplomacy could have already begun long ago, are a deliberate crime,” Zelensky said.
Among the dead were a young mother and her two-month-old son killed when a drone struck a nine-story apartment block in western Kyiv. A separate guided bomb attack in the southern Zaporizhzhia region killed a married couple, regional officials said.
The barrage followed fresh pledges by more than two dozen European nations, led by France and Britain, to deploy “reassurance forces” to Ukraine as part of any peace deal — a proposal Moscow has branded unacceptable. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that any Western troops on Ukrainian soil would be considered “legitimate” targets.
Despite renewed U.S. diplomatic efforts, spearheaded by President Donald Trump, little progress has been made. Russia continues to occupy roughly one-fifth of Ukraine, while the war, Europe’s bloodiest since World War II, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
