This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian State Emergency Service on May 6, 2025 shows a firefighter extinguishing the fire in a building following an air-attack in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A Russian ballistic missile strike on MAy 6, 2025 on the Ukrainian city of Sumy killed three people and wounded 11, with children were among both dead and injured, authorities said. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian State Emergency Service / AFP)
Ukraine reported on Monday that Russia launched a large-scale overnight assault using drones and missiles, resulting in the deaths of seven people in Kyiv.
Efforts to bring the nearly three-year-long conflict to an end remain stalled, with the last face-to-face discussions between Ukraine and Russia taking place almost three weeks ago and no new negotiations currently scheduled.
Reporters from AFP noted the sound of drones flying over central Kyiv, followed by loud blasts during the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that six individuals were killed in the capital, while one more fatality occurred in Bila Tserkva, a town near Kyiv.
According to Zelensky, Russia deployed a total of 352 drones — including those based on Iranian designs — as well as 16 missiles. He also mentioned that some of these weapons were supplied to Russia by North Korea.
“Everyone in countries neighbouring Russia, Iran and North Korea should be thinking carefully about whether they could protect lives if this coalition of murderers persists and continues spreading their terror,” he added.
Zelensky also revealed he would be visiting the United Kingdom on Monday, one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters, to hold discussions focused on defence strategies and additional sanctions against Russia.
This visit comes just days before a NATO summit in The Hague. Zelensky is expected to attend, but in a limited capacity to avoid any direct encounter with US President Donald Trump.
– Sheltering in basements –
Since returning to office, Trump has disrupted the West’s united approach to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine by softening support for Kyiv and signaling openness to improved ties with Moscow.
AFP reporters observed civilians huddled in the basement of a residential building in central Kyiv, seeking refuge from the attack while checking their phones for updates.
One of the airstrikes hit a multi-storey apartment building, leaving rescue teams to sift through the wreckage, according to AFP correspondents at the location.
“Rescuers are currently clearing the rubble and providing assistance wherever it is needed,” Zelensky said.
He also reported that five “ordinary homes” were damaged in the assault.
This latest round of strikes comes less than a week after another deadly attack in Kyiv that claimed at least 28 lives, and follows Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrsky’s pledge to ramp up operations against Russia.
“We will not just sit in defence because this brings nothing and eventually leads to the fact that we still retreat, lose people and territories,” he told reporters, including AFP.
Syrsky emphasized that Ukrainian strikes on Russian military positions would continue, calling them “effective.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry claimed that 23 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted over the eastern part of the country.
Throughout the war, Ukraine has carried out retaliatory attacks against Russia, aiming at military and energy targets deep inside Russian territory.
Officials in Kyiv argue that these actions are justified responses to Russia’s repeated attacks on Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure.
Syrsky acknowledged Russia’s edge in drone technology, pointing to its use of fibre-optic drones that are difficult to disrupt.
Currently, Russia controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory and asserts that it has annexed four additional regions since the full-scale invasion began in 2022 — along with Crimea, which was seized in 2014.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of intentionally undermining peace negotiations in order to prolong the conflict and gain more ground.
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