Russia launches major aerial attack on Ukraine capital

At least 14 people have been injured in a major Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv, city authorities say.

Russia launched 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles against Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said, causing fires in residential buildings.

It was one of the biggest combined aerial assaults on the city since the war began.

The air force said it had downed six missiles and 245 drones.

“With each such attack, the world becomes more certain that the cause of prolonging the war lies in Moscow,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X.

The barrage came as Russia and Ukraine are taking part in prisoner swaps agreed after talks between the two countries’ officials in Turkey.

Describing a “difficult night”, Zelensky said there had been fires and explosions across Kyiv with homes, businesses and cars damaged by strikes or falling debris.

Olha Chyrukha, a 64-year-old local resident who lives just outside central Kyiv, told Reuters news agency: “I wish they’d agree to a ceasefire. To bomb people like this – poor children. My three-year-old granddaughter was screaming scared.”

Commenting on the combined use of aerial weapons, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said: “The enemy is improving its own tactics of using drones, while simultaneously striking with ballistics.”

Zelensky said only “additional sanctions targeting key sectors of the Russian economy” could push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire.

Last week, Russia said Ukraine had launched hundreds of exploding drones at the country, including strikes over Moscow. The Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that 485 drones had been shot down.

On Saturday, Zelensky announced that 307 Ukrainian prisoners had returned home as part of an exchange deal with the Kremlin.

On Friday, Ukraine and Russia had each handed over 390 soldiers and civilians in the biggest prisoner exchange since Russia launched its full-scale assault in February 2022.

Both countries have each agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners, with another exchange expected on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump, who has pledged but so far failed to end the war, suggested on social media that the swap “could lead to something big???”.

Earlier this week, Trump had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war, after which he said the Kremlin and Ukraine would “immediately start” negotiations for a ceasefire.

However, Putin has only said Russia would work with Ukraine to craft a “memorandum on a possible future peace agreement”, and failed to address calls for a 30-day ceasefire.