Putin unleashes one of his biggest attacks on Ukraine since start of war
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Vladimir Putin has unleashed one of the largest-scale attacks on Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion – just days after the first in-person negotiations for a ceasefire.
Apocalyptic scenes unfolded in Kyiv during the bombardment with Russian missiles and drones that lasted for more than seven hours, with at least 13 killed by drones and missiles the following night too.
Explosions and machine gunfire ripped through the sky while Ukrainian air defences worked to shoot down the bombs.
Fires raged across several districts, casting a hellish orange-yellow glow over the capital’s skyline, and think columns of smoke spiralled high above.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city was ‘under a combined enemy attack.’
‘Emergency services are working on the ground. Stay in shelters until the air alarm is canceled! The attack on the capital continues,’ he wrote on Telegram late last night.
Klitschko said fragments from one drone hit the top floor of an apartment block in the Solomyanskyi district.
One apartment block was ablaze in the area as was one non-residential building.
Overall, Russian forces launched 14 Iskander-M or KN-23 ballistic missiles against Ukraine overnight on Friday to Saturday, as well as 250 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy drones.
Ukraine’s air defences shot down 128 drones, while 117 were neutralised by electronic warfare systems or disappeared from radars, the air force said.
Reports from Russia claimed that Ukrainian drone-making facilities around the Antonov aircraft-making plant in Kyiv had been hit.
The nighttime Russian attack that stretched into the morning came hours after Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner exchange – the first phase of a ‘1,000-for-1,000’ swap that was agreed on by the two sides at a meeting in Istanbul last week.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the first phase brought home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend that will make it the largest swap of the war.
Russia’s defence ministry said it received the same number from Ukraine.
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