Ukrainian firefighters work on site to extinguish the fire of a building damaged during a Russian drone and missile attack in Kyiv. Photo: AFP/SUPPLIED
A Russian drone and missile barrage on Kyiv and its suburbs Saturday killed one person, wounded two dozen and cut off heating and electricity for hundreds of thousands of people left in freezing temperatures.
An air alert lasted several hours after loud overnight explosions, some accompanied by bright flashes that turned the sky orange, according to AFP reporters in Kyiv.
Smoke rising above residential buildings following Russian drones and missiles attack, in Kyiv. Photo: AFP/SUPPLIED
The attack killed a 47-year-old woman, Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said.
"There are already 19 persons affected in the capital. Eleven persons have been hospitalised," said Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko. He added that 2,600 residential buildings and hundreds of kindergartens, schools and social buildings had lost heat.
"As of this morning, part of the left bank of the region remains without electricity. Currently, more than 320,000 consumers are without power," Kalashnyk added.
People take shelter at a metro station during Russian air attacks in Kyiv on December 27, 2025. Photo: AFP/SUPPLIED
Ukraine's air force announced a countrywide air alert early on Saturday (local time) and said that drones and missiles were moving over several Ukrainian regions.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that a Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv showed Russia does "not want to end the war".
The attack came ahead of Zelensky's meeting with US President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday to discuss a proposed plan to end the fighting that has killed tens of thousands since 2022.
The Russians "do not want to end the war and seek to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even greater suffering and increase their pressure on others around the world," Zelensky said after the Russian barrage pummelled the capital killing at least one person.
Russia accused Zelensky and his EU backers on Friday of seeking to "torpedo" the US-brokered plan.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a press conference at the headquarters of French national public television broadcaster France Televisions in Paris, on 27 March, 2025. Photo: JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
The latest plan is a 20-point proposal that would freeze the war on its current front line but open the door for Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, where demilitarised buffer zones could be created, according to details revealed by Zelensky this week.
- AFP
