Russia hit kyiv with the greatest drone attack of the war, wounding at least 23 people and damaging buildings throughout the Ukrainian capital hours after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, spoke with Vladimir Putin in Russia, the authorities said on Friday.
Air Raid Sirens, the groan of Kamikaze’s drones and booming detonations reverge early at night to dawn when Russia launched what the Ukraine Air Force said it was a total of 539 drones and 11 missiles.
The families snuggled in underground subway stations for shelter. The acre smoke hung over the city center. Outside a high -height apartments block damaged by a drone, the residents stopped the scene when the cleaning work began. Some cried. Others looked silent.
“I woke up with the sound of the explosions, first the Shahed drones began to buzz, and then the explosions began,” said Maria Hilchenko, a 40 -year -old resident. “Then people started screaming outside. The explosions of the Shaheds continued to arrive.”
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, described the “deliberately mass and cynical” attack.
“In particular, Air Raid’s first alerts in our cities and regions yesterday began to sound almost simultaneously with the media reports that argue a phone call between President Trump and Putin,” Zelensky said in X.
“Once again, Russia is showing that it has no intention of finishing war and terror,” he added, asking for greater pressure on Russia and more air defense equipment.
kyiv officials said the attack damaged about 40 blocks of apartments, railway rail infrastructure, five schools and kindergarten, coffees and many cars in six of the 10 kyiv districts. Poland said the consular section of his embassy was damaged in the center of kyiv, adding that the staff was unharmed.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the telegram that 14 of the injured were taken to the hospital.
The Ukrazaliznysia Ukraine State Railroad, the largest carrier in the country, said in Telegram that the attack against kyiv forced them to divert several passenger trains, causing delays.
The damage was recorded on both sides of the wide DNIPRO river that divides the capital, and the fall of drone waste set up a medical installation in the lush Holosiivskyi district, Klitschko said.
Russian air attacks in kyiv have intensified in recent weeks and included some of the most mortal assaults in the city in the city of 3 million people.
Call sanctions
Trump said the call with Putin on Thursday did not result in any progress in the efforts to end the war, and the Kremlin reiterated that Moscow would continue to press to resolve the “root causes” of the conflict.
Speaking to journalists upon his return to Washington of a trip to Iowa, Trump said: “I am very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don’t think it’s there, and I’m very disappointed.
“I just say that I don’t think I’m looking to stop, and that’s a pity.”
Washington’s decision to stop some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine caused kyiv warnings that the measure would weaken its ability to defend against the intensification of air attacks and advances in the battlefield.
On Friday, Zelensky asked for greater pressure on Moscow to change his “silly and destructive behavior.”
“For each attack against people and human life, they must feel appropriate sanctions and other blows to their economy, their income and infrastructure,” he said.
The Ukraine Air Force said it destroyed 478 of the air weapons that Russia launched during the night. However, air attacks were recorded in eight locations in Ukraine, with nine missiles and 63 drones, he added.
The videos of social networks showed people running to seek refuge, firefighters fighting fires in dark and ruined buildings with windows and exploited facades.
Both parties deny addressing civilians in the war that Russia launched with its large -scale invasion in February 2022. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. It is believed that many more soldiers were killed in the front line, but none of the sides releases figures from military victims.
Late Thursday, Russian bombing killed five people in the city of Pokrovsk in Pokrovsk in East Ukraine, Ukraine said.
Trump, Zelensky argue the weapons, Russian scales that grow
Zelensky said he discussed aerial defenses in a conversation with Trump later on Friday, agreeing to work to increase kyiv’s ability to “defend the sky” as Russian attacks increase.
He added in a message on Telegram that discussed the production of joint defense, as well as joint purchases and investments with the US leader.
Ukraine has been asking Washington to sell him more missiles and patriotic systems that he considers key to defending his cities to intensify Russian air attacks.
Washington’s decision to stop some arms shipments to Ukraine caused kyiv warnings that the measure would weaken its ability to defend against air attacks in Russia and advances in the battlefield. Germany said he is in conversations about the purchase of Patriot Air Defense systems to close the gap.
An informed source about the call told Reuters They were optimistic that patriotic missile supplies could resume after what they called a “very good” conversation among the presidents.
USA. Outlet Axios He informed, citing unidentified sources, that the call lasted about 40 minutes, and that Trump told Zelensky that he would verify what US weapons due to Ukraine, if any, he had suspended.
Zelensky, speaking later in his night video speech, said he and Trump had agreed to “organize a meeting between our teams to strengthen aerial defenses.
“We had a very detailed discussion about joint production. We need it, the United States needs it.”
Speaking to journalists when he left Washington to Iowa on Friday, Trump said “we have not” stopped the flow of weapons, but blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for sending so many weapons that risked to weaken the defenses of the United States.
“We are giving weapons, but we have given many weapons. But we are giving weapons,” he said. “And we are working with them and trying to help them, but we have not [completely stopped]. You know, Biden emptied our entire country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure we have enough for ourselves. ”
The pause in the shipments of US weapons.
The Ukrainian leaders asked for the US envoy to kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of Washington’s military aid, and warned that the pause in its shipments of weapons would weaken the ability of Ukraine to defend against Russia.
The movement of the Pentagon has meant a cut in the deliveries of the Patriot Defense missiles in which Ukraine trusts to destroy rapid movement missiles, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
