Kyiv, Mar 23: At least seven people were killed after Russia launched a barrage of drones across Ukraine overnight on Sunday, according to local Ukrainian officials and emergency services.
The attack on the Ukrainian capital came ahead of ceasefire negotiations in Saudi Arabia in which Ukraine and Russia are expected to hold indirect US-mediated talks on Monday to discuss a pause in long-range attacks targeting energy facilities and civilian infrastructure.
The Ukrainian delegation is expected to meet with US officials in Saudi Arabia a day ahead of the indirect talks, Ukrainian President Voldoymyr Zelenskyy said. Ukraine is planning to send technical teams to discuss the details of the partial ceasefire.
Russia launched 147 drones across Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Ukrainian air defences shot down 97 and 25 others didn’t reach targets due to Ukrainian countermeasures. The attacks struck the Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa and Donetsk regions, as well as the capital, Kyiv.
Three people, including a five-year-old child, were killed and 10 others were injured in a drone attack on Kyiv, the city’s military administration said. Extended sounds of explosions were heard across the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of the night as the air raid blared for over five hours. Russian drones and debris from shot-down drones, which were flying at lower altitudes to evade air defences, fell on residential buildings.
Two residential buildings in the district of Dnipro caught fire due to falling drone debris, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. A fire broke out on the top floors of a 9-storey building, killing one woman, the State Emergency Service said.
In the district of Podil, a fire broke out on the 20th floor of a 25-storey building. In Holosiivskyi, fires broke out in a warehouse and office building, killing one person, according to the State Emergency Service.
Elsewhere, four people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Donetsk region, regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin said, including three who died in a strike on the frontline Ukrainian town of Dobropillya.
In a statement on social media, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said attacks such as the one in Kyiv were a daily occurrence for Ukraine.
“This week alone, more than 1,580 guided aerial bombs, almost 1,100 strike drones and 15 missiles of various types were used against our people,” he said. “New solutions are needed, with new pressure on Moscow to stop both these strikes and this war.”
Also on Sunday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 29 over the region of Rostov and 20 more over southwestern Astrakhan. In Rostov, one person was killed and a car caught fire due to the Ukrainian drone attack, according to the area’s temporary governor, Yuri Slyusar. (AP)
