ISLAMABAD: A massive Russian drone and missile attack against Ukraine lasting 12 hours into Sunday killed at least four people in Kyiv, including a 12-year-old girl, Ukrainian authorities said, according to AFP.
Neighboring Poland scrambled jets to secure its airspace in the wake of the barrage, after NATO accused Moscow of being behind a series of violations of the defense alliance's airspace.
Diplomatic efforts to stop the war have faltered and Russia has vowed to press on with the offensive that it launched in February 2022.
‘Harshest pressure’
"Moscow wants to continue fighting and killing and deserves only the harshest pressure from the world," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said following the strikes.
Zelenksy, in a post on X, stated: “the Baltic Sea and other seas must be closed to Russian tankers – at the very least to the shadow fleet.”
“We also count on strong steps from the United States,” he added.
Following the aerial barrage, Zelensky held a round of calls with allies, including NATO chief Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, AFP reported.
Russia said it had only hit military targets during the attack.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said that apart from residential buildings, a cardiology centre and a kindergarten had been among the buildings hit across the country.
Scores of wounded
The Ukrainian military said the country had been targeted by 595 drones and 48 missiles, most of which were shot down by air defenses. But 31 drones and five missiles got through.
Zelensky said that energy sites were hit, accusing Russia of wanting to cause massive blackouts across Ukraine.
Ukrainian intelligence indicated that Russian oil tankers had been used as platforms to launch and guide the attack drones, he added.
The Ukrainian leader vowed his country would target Russia's ability to fund the war and force Moscow to the negotiating table.
As well as the four people killed in Kyiv, the authorities said scores of people had been wounded across the Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Sumy, Cherkasy, and Mykolaiv regions.
Ivan Fedrorov, the governor of Zaporizhzhia, where a big nuclear plant is under Russian control, said the main city of the region had been hit "at least four times" and 42 people had been wounded.
Zelensky posted photos of residential buildings in flames, with emergency services putting out fires and rescuing people from shattered buildings.
More victims could be uncovered in the debris, rescuers said. AFP reporters saw rescuers using heavy machinery to clear rubble from near-destroyed buildings.
Poland scrambles jets
Poland's armed forces said on X that Warsaw had scrambled fighter jets in its airspace and put ground-based air-defense systems on high alert.
In recent weeks, several European countries have accused Russia of violating their airspace with drones and fighter jets, in what NATO sees as a test of its resolve.
Russia has denied that it is responsible for the incursions or that it plans to attack any NATO nation.
In an address at the UN General Assembly in New York on Saturday, Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that "any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response".
Kyiv and Moscow also said on Saturday that the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant -- Europe's largest -- had been off the grid for four days, stoking fears of a potential nuclear incident, AFP reported.
Two civilians injured
Belgorod Region in western Russia is facing serious water and energy supply shortages following what its governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has described as Ukrainian strikes targeting local infrastructure, Russia Today reported on Sunday.
At least two civilians have been injured in a Ukrainian missile strike on Belgorod, according to Gladkov.
.jpg)
