Russia targeted Ukraine overnight with one of the war's biggest drone and missile barrages, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens of people in attacks on cities and villages across the country, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
This was the second major attack in two nights, part of a wider escalation by Russia in recent months, surged civilian casualties amid ceasefire negotiations. Ukraine has also stepped up its own air force attacks on Russian territory, but on a small scale, with far fewer civilian deaths.
The overnight strike further highlighted the failure of months of diplomacy aimed at mediating a ceasefire to bring about breakthroughs. After several weeks of threatening to leave negotiations considering the lack of progress, President Trump appears to be doing just that now, and last week he told Zelensky that Russia and Ukraine must find a solution to the war itself.
The Ukrainian air force added that Russia fired 69 ballistic and cruise missiles along with 298 attack drones, with about two-thirds of the missiles and almost all of the drones being shot down. Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said in an interview that it was the biggest artillery shelling of the war in terms of the number of weapons used. These numbers could not be verified independently.
Images and videos released by Ukrainian emergency services captured the scale of devastation on Sunday morning.
They showed firefighters spraying water into an apartment in the southern city of Mikolife, where the roof was destroyed, and their shattered beams protruding into the sky like broken ribs. In the Kiev area, emergency workers walked down the streets, where houses on both sides were consumed by fire and debris covered the pavement. In the West Zhytomyr area, the photographs showed rescuers pulling the bodies of three children from a house that was reduced to Kurarub.
Local authorities say in addition to the victims of Zhytomyr, four people have died in the Kyiv area and four have died in the Western Khmelnytsky area.
Ukrainian Home Minister Ihol Klimenko said a total of 13 regions have been attacked and more than 60 people have been injured. He added that over 80 residential buildings have been damaged.
Ukrainian President Volodymia Zelensky, who accused the Kremlin of playing for time in peace talks, cited the attack as further evidence that “Russia is dragging out this war and killing it every day.” In a social media post, he called for increased pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin.
“The world may take weekend breaks, but the war continues regardless of weekends or weekday,” Zelensky wrote. “This cannot be ignored. The silence of America, the silence of others around the world only encourages Putin.”
In Ukraine, there was hope that Trump, launched in February, would facilitate air attacks in at least private regions. Instead, violence is intensifying. According to the United Nations, deaths of Ukrainian civilians have been rising monthly since February, reaching 209 in April.
Russia appears to be targeting cities more and more intensively. Last month, a strike near the playground and another strike in the crowded city centre killed 53 civilians, including several children.
Daria Mitiuk contributed the report.
