Russian strikes kill 14 in 'horrific' attack on Kyiv

KYIV: Russian strikes killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens in Kyiv in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday (Jun 17) called "one of the most horrific attacks" on the capital.

The strike was one of the deadliest on Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and came as direct peace talks between the two sides appeared to stall.

Zelenskyy said "an entire section of an apartment block" was destroyed and rescuers were searching under the rubble for possible survivors.

AFP journalists heard drones flying over the city and explosions ringing out as Ukrainian air defence systems opened fire during the Russian barrage.

Dozens of Kyiv residents were taking shelter in a metro station in central Kyiv, sleeping on mats, exchanging information on the drone and missile threat or reassuring pets, AFP journalists reported.

Residents in Kyiv told AFP the attack was one of the strongest in recent memory.

"It was probably the most hellish night in my memory for our neighbourhood," 20-year-old Ukrainian student Alina Shtompel told AFP.

"It is indescribably painful that our people are going through this right now."

Some 27 locations in Kyiv were hit, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said.

One person was also killed and 10 wounded in a strike on the southern port city of Odesa, while attacks on the Sumy and Kherson regions later in the day killed two others, authorities said.

A total of 440 drones and 32 missiles were used in the strikes nationwide, Zelenskyy said.

"Kyiv has faced one of the most horrific attacks," the Ukrainian leader wrote on Facebook.

"Right now in Kyiv, efforts are underway to rescue people from under the rubble of an ordinary residential building - it's still unclear how many remain trapped," he said.

He urged the international community not to "turn a blind eye".

Russian President Vladimir "Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on", he said.

Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in a social media post: "This is how Russia fights - it kills civilians in ordinary homes, deliberately."

US CITIZEN DEAD

Another Kyiv resident, Sergiy, said his windows were shattered during the strikes.

"I was asleep. There was a loud bang. The window was smashed, and glass rained down on me," he said.

Residential buildings, educational institutions and "critical infrastructure facilities" were all hit, Klymenko wrote on Telegram.

A total of 114 were wounded in the attack on Kyiv, 68 of them hospitalised, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.

He reported earlier that a US citizen had died in a Russian attack on the capital's Solomyansky district.

"During the attack on Kyiv ... a 62-year-old US citizen died in a house opposite to the place where medics were providing assistance to the injured," Klitschko said on Telegram.

Yermak said the new strikes showed Moscow was "continuing its war against civilians".

More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has kept up its attacks despite efforts by the US to broker a ceasefire.

Talks have stalled. Moscow has rejected the "unconditional" truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies, while Ukraine has dismissed Russia's demands as "ultimatums".

On Monday, Zelenskyy had said he hoped to speak with his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.

But the Ukrainian leader was expected to arrive at the G7 after the departure of the American president, who cut short his stay in the Canadian Rockies as Israel pounded Iran.