Russian airstrikes kill 10, injure dozens in Kyiv

Updated / Thursday, Getty Rescuers extinguish a fire following missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 50, as drones and missiles struck residential buildings and started a fire in a hotel on a central boulevard. Russia's defence ministry confirmed it had launched a "massive strike" on Kyiv, "in response to the Kyiv regime's terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure". President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier warned of a possible overnight attack and said he was cutting short his visit to Dublin for the start of Ireland's six-month term in the rotating presidency of the EU. Head of Kyiv's military administration Tymur Tkachenko decried what he called the deliberate targeting of civilians and residential areas. Smoke rises over Kyiv following a Russian air attack Five districts of the wider Kyiv region were struck in the attack, according to regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk. "During the night, the enemy once again launched a massive attack on the Kyiv region using strike drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles," Mr Kalashnyk said on Telegram. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on Telegram, the first to sixth floors of ‌an apartment building collapsed after a direct hit. Reuters ⁠video footage showed emergency services working through the rubble of what used to be a nine-storey building as the sun started to rise over Kyiv. Emergency services workers work through rubble in Kyiv In an earlier post, Mr Klitschko said the injured included paramedics and drivers at an ambulance station, and that some people were still trapped inside damaged residential buildings. Pictures posted online showed a fire burning out of control at the top of a building on the central Shevchenko Boulevard, while elsewhere in the city, windows blew out and ‌cars were destroyed. Carrying children, belongings, tents and pets, people crowded into underground stations, as air raid alerts were issued for most of Ukraine's territory ⁠in Russia's worst attack on the country since mid-June. "Another horrific night for the residents of the city, who were forced to spend it ‌in shelters," Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, said in a post on X. Neighbouring Poland, a ⁠NATO and European ‌Union member, briefly scrambled fighter jets as a preventive measure before calling those back and saying no airspace violation was recorded. Exchanging attacks Mr Zelensky has proposed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the more than four-year-old war, which the Kremlin leader has rejected.