Kyiv, June 10: Russia attacked two Ukrainian cities with waves of drones and missiles early Tuesday, killing three people and wounding at least 13 in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “one of the biggest” strikes in the 3-year-old war.
The attack struck Kyiv and the southern port city of Odesa. In an online statement, Zelenskyy said that Moscow’s forces fired over 315 drones, most of them Shaheds, and seven missiles overnight.
“Russian missile and Shahed strikes are louder than the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace,” Zelenskyy wrote, urging “concrete action” from the US and Europe in response to the attack.
A maternity hospital and residential buildings in the southern port of Odesa were damaged in the attack, regional head Oleh Kiper said. Two people were killed and nine injured, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
Another person was killed in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi district, regional head Tymur Tkachenko wrote on Telegram.
“Russian strikes are once again hitting not military targets but the lives of ordinary people. This once again shows the true nature of what we are dealing with,” he said.
Explosions and the buzzing of drones were heard around the city for hours.
Attacks continue despite talks but POWs swapped
The fresh attacks came a day after Moscow launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the war.
Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating Moscow’s response to Kyiv’s audacious June 1 drone attack on distant Russian air bases.
Russia has been launching a record number of drones and missiles in recent days, despite both sides trading memoranda at direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2 that set out conditions for a potential ceasefire.
However, the inclusion of clauses that both sides see as nonstarters make any quick deal unlikely, and a ceasefire, long sought by Kyiv, remains elusive.
The only tangible outcome of the talks has been the exchange of prisoners of war, with a swap that began Monday for soldiers aged between 18 and 25.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said Tuesday it had received a second group of exchanged soldiers as part of the deal.
Amina Ivanchenko was reunited Monday with her husband, a POW for 18 months, in the release of an initial group of Ukrainian soldiers. She said was grateful to Ukrainian officials for supporting her.
“My struggle was much easier thanks to them. Our country will definitely return everyone. Glory to Ukraine! Thank you!”
Anastasia Nahorna waited in the Chernyhiv region to see if her husband, who has been missing for eight months, was among those being released in the latest swap.
“This pain is more unbearable every day,” she said. “I really want to hear some news, because since the moment of his disappearance, unfortunately, there has been no information. Is he alive? or maybe in captivity? Has someone seen him?” she asked.
Anna Rodionova, the wife of another Ukrainian POW, also was waiting.
“I just want him to come back soon and for this to all be over,” she said. “We are tired of waiting, we come every exchange and he is not there.”
A similar exchange was announced for the bodies of fallen soldiers held by both sides, although no schedule has been released. Asked to comment on the exchange of dead, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was unclear when it could take place and how many bodies Ukraine would hand over. He again accused Kyiv of dragging its feet on the exchange.
“There is one unarguable fact, we have had trucks with bodies standing ready for it on the border for several days,” he told reporters. (AP)
