Six killed in Russian drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other cities

Russia attacked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles, drones and guided bombs on Sunday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, authorities said, again highlighting Ukraine’s shortage of US-made Patriot air defence systems.Moscow has in recent weeks stepped up its use of ballistic missiles as it seeks to choke off Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities deep inside Russia that have caused critical fuel shortages affecting both the military and the civilian population.US president Donald Trump has said he is prepared to grant Ukraine licences to produce Patriots, the most effective means of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles, potentially bolstering Kyiv’s defences.A woman carries a cage with a parrot as she leaves her damaged home following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP However, the details and timeline remain unclear, and full production could take years.The latest attack on Kyiv began at around 1.30am and continued for several hours, with explosions echoing across the city.Russia launched 41 missiles and 125 drones across Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said most of the missiles had targeted the capital.Later on Sunday a Russian attack on a postal facility near Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded at least 20, according to the regional administration.Russian guided bombs also hit the cities of Kherson and Sumy, local authorities and Ukraine’s emergency service said, with each of the strikes leaving at least one person dead.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was in Paris this week. Photograph: Teresa Suarez/Pool/AP The strikes on Kyiv sparked fires in five districts, damaging residential buildings, office and industrial sites, a dormitory and vehicles, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.Viktoria Shejko, 32, was taking shelter in the corridor of her apartment block with her seven children and husband when they heard the loud explosions.“When the alarm started, we checked that there were ballistics, then went into the corridor. Then it started exploding, one missile after another,” she said.The strain of constant bombardment is “very difficult psychologically”, she said. “It used to be once a week or even more rarely, but now if not every day, then every other day.”Rescuers pulled four people from a burning home in the Sviatoshynskyi district, while in the Shevchenkivskyi district, they rushed to save residents from a three-storey building on fire. One person was found dead. Firefighters also responded to blazes in the Solomianskyi, Desnianskyi and Dnipro districts.Smoke rises over the city after a Russian attack on Kyiv, on Sunday. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP Russia’s defence ministry claimed the attack on Kyiv targeted sites linked to the Ukrainian military – including plants producing Flamingo drones and parts for Neptune guided missiles, as well as a postal terminal used for storing dual-use goods and assembling drones, robotic systems and electronic warfare equipment.Separately, a strike on two oil tankers at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal off Russia’s Black Sea halted oil loadings at the site, the CPC said on Sunday..The attack on the Asia and Nissos tankers in the port of Novorossiysk sparked a fire aboard the Asia, which was extinguished.The company did not say who was responsible for the attack.It added that there were no casualties or oil spills, and the tankers, sailing under the flags of Liberia and the Marshall Islands, respectively, remained afloat.Local residents walk among debris following Russia’s missile attack on Kyiv. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP Both Russia and Ukraine have sharply ramped up strikes on ships in the Black and Azov seas over the past week. Ukraine says it targets Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which ships oil in violation of international sanctions over the Kremlin’s invasion of its neighbour.Kyiv has for months been targeting Russia’s oil industry, which it says both directly fuels Moscow’s war effort and funds it through export revenues, triggering acute fuel shortages in a country that is one of the world’s top oil producers.Zelenskiy announced on Sunday that Ukrainian units struck more energy infrastructure in Russian territory.nHe said units of Ukraine’s Security Service agency struck three oil depots in the Stavropol region, while a separate unit of the army hit another fuel-related facility in the same region. Three Russian tankers were also struck in the Black Sea, he said.A missile crater in Kyiv following a Russian attack. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP Stavropol governor Vladimir Vladimirov earlier referenced Ukrainian drone attacks igniting fires at “industrial facilities” in two locations within the region. Russian air defence systems shot down 140 Ukrainian drones over eight Russian regions, annexed Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas overnight into Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry reported. It did not say how many were launched or reached their targets.In Russia’s Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border, Ukrainian drones struck four apartment buildings, setting off a fire and injuring one person, according to local governor Alexander Khinshtein. – AP