KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russia bombarded six regions of Ukraine in one of its largest aerial attacks of the three-year war, Ukrainian officials said Friday. The nighttime assault lasted for hours and killed three emergency responders in the capital Kyiv, according to authorities.
The barrage included 407 drones and 44 ballistic and cruise missiles, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said. Ukrainian forces said they shot down about 30 of the cruise missiles and up to 200 of the drones.
The latest Russian attack came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump´s comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts.
Ukrainian cities have come under regular bombardment since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. The attacks have killed more than 12,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.
“Russia doesn`t change its stripes,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy, as well as the Ukrainian Interior Ministry and the general prosecutor’s office, said three emergency workers were killed in Kyiv while responding to the Russian strikes. “They were working under fire to help people,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The war has continued unabated even as a U.S.-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. The negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs, however, and the sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting.
Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn´t budged from its demands.
“The Kremlin continues efforts to falsely portray Russia as willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, despite Russia´s repeated refusal to offer any concessions,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Thursday.
Putin said in a phone call with Trump earlier this week that he would respond to Ukraine´s daring long-range attack on Russian air bases on Sunday.
Russia´s Defense Ministry claimed it had aimed at Ukrainian military targets with “long-range precision weapons” and successfully struck arms depots, drone factories and repair facilities, among other targets.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attacks demonstrated key differences between Russia and Ukraine.
“The difference … is that Ukraine hits legitimate military targets-such as aircraft equipped to bomb our children. Russia targets residential areas, civilians, and critical infrastructure,” Sybiha wrote on X. “Putting Ukraine and Russia on equal footing is unacceptable.”
In Russia, air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital early Friday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Flights at Moscow airports were temporarily suspended during the night as a precaution.
Ukrainian drones also targeted three other regions of Russia, authorities said, damaging apartment buildings and industrial plants. Three people were injured, officials said.
Russia´s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 174 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions early Friday. It added that three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea.
Ukraine struck airfields and other military targets in Russia, such as fuel storage tanks and transport hubs, the Ukrainian General Staff said.
Also, a locomotive derailed early Friday in the Belgorod region after the track was blown up, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia has recently accused Ukraine of sabotaging the rail network.
In Kyiv, multiple explosions were heard for hours as falling drone debris sparked fires across several districts, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration. He urged people to seek shelter.
Fourteen-year-old Kyiv resident Vitalina Vasylchenko sheltered in a parking garage with her 6-year-old sister and their mother after an explosion blew one of their windows off its hinges.
“I heard a buzzing sound, then my dad ran to me and covered me with his hand, then there was a very loud explosion,” she said. “My whole life flashed before my eyes, I already thought that was it. I started having a panic attack … I´m shocked that I´m alive.”
Ukraine´s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, called for a strong international response to Russia´s latest overnight attack, saying the assault violated basic human rights. “Russia is acting like a terrorist, systematically targeting civilian infrastructure,” Lubinets wrote on Telegram. “The world must respond clearly and take concrete steps, including condemning the aggressor´s actions.”
Authorities reported damage in several districts in Kyiv, and rescue workers responded to damage and fires at multiple locations.
In Solomyanskyi district, a fire broke out on the 11th floor of a 16-story residential building. Emergency services evacuated three people from the apartment.
The attack caused a blackout in some areas, and more than 2,000 households on Kyiv´s eastern bank were without power, the Kyiv City Administration said.
Elsewhere, 10 people were injured by an aerial attack on the western city of Ternopil, regional governor Viacheslav Nehoda said. The strike damaged industrial and infrastructure facilities, left parts of the city without electricity, and disrupted water supplies.
Three people were also injured in Ukraine´s central Poltava region. Russia also targeted the western Lviv and Khmelnytskyi regions, and the northern Chernihiv region.
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