Foreign News
Russian strikes on Kiev kill nine, injure dozens as Ukraine urges more air defences
In Kiev’s Darnytsky district, the attacks damaged multiple buildings and vehicles, with authorities reporting seven people killed and 14 wounded in the area.
Two people were killed and eight others were wounded in Solomiansky district, where strikes damaged a five-storey residential building.
‘Very careful’
While Kiev has faced near-nightly attacks, Ukraine has also escalated its retaliatory strikes on Russia in recent months, partly to pressure Moscow to the negotiating table after nearly four-and-a-half years of war.
Russia’s ministry of defence on Saturday said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 274 Ukrainian drones overnight.
And Russian online retail giant Wildberries said on Friday its logistics facility in Volgograd caught fire after an overnight attack, the latest in a series of strikes on the company’s facilities.
Kiev has accused the e-commerce giant, which employs thousands of people and has become a key part of the economy, of storing drone parts and helping the Russian army.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump this week for talks.
Zelenskyy said following the meeting that Trump had agreed to license the production of Patriot missiles to Ukraine.
But the US president said on Friday that Washington would have to be “very careful” about giving Ukraine a license to produce the missiles.
On Saturday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia’s attacks show that Ukraine “urgently needs additional air and missile defence systems and interceptors”.
“It is the battle for the skies that will define the trajectory of this war. The stronger the air shield over Ukraine, the closer peace becomes,” he said.
