Overnight terror in Kyiv: 19 injured in Russian barrage as Ukraine retaliates deep inside Russia
Kyiv: A Russian barrage of missiles and drones targeting Ukraine's capital and the surrounding region injured at least 19 people overnight and into Thursday morning, authorities said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces conducted overnight strikes against targets inside Russia, including an oil refinery in Yaroslavl and a military airfield in the Rostov region.
The Kyiv City Military Administration reported that overnight strikes hit more than 10 locations across the city, while 33 sites sustained damage in the wider region. A 10-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy were among those wounded, the administration stated in a post on Telegram.
Peace negotiations to end Russia’s four-and-a-half-year full-scale invasion remain stalled, with territorial concessions in eastern Ukraine standing as a primary sticking point. Successive rounds of U.S.-brokered discussions have failed to yield a breakthrough, as Ukraine continues to press its partners for security guarantees to underpin any eventual agreement.
U.S. President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post Monday that Russia and Ukraine had mutually agreed to stop targeting each other's energy infrastructure, strikes that have caused severe power supply disruptions in both nations.
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Zelenskyy disputed Trump's statement, explaining that while an energy truce was discussed during a recent meeting in Kyiv with Trump’s representatives, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, he would commit to such an arrangement only if Russia halted its strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities first.
Separately, a Russian drone struck a Tanzanian-flagged civilian vessel in the Black Sea on Thursday, killing the ship’s captain and injuring three crew members, according to Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region.
The attack damaged the vessel’s superstructure and deck on Thursday morning, Kiper stated on Telegram, accusing Russia of intentionally targeting Ukrainian ports and commercial merchant shipping.
Ukraine’s air force reported it intercepted or disabled 131 Russian aerial targets during the overnight assault across the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa regions. The strike force comprised ballistic and cruise missiles, alongside attack drones and decoys.
In Odesa, seven people were injured, including two children, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. The attack damaged apartments between the 14th and 16th floors of a high-rise residential building, destroyed a private house, and damaged neighbouring properties.
Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine's strike on the Yaroslavl Oil Refinery was carried out jointly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), special operations forces, military intelligence, and the Foreign Intelligence Service.
Writing on Telegram, Zelenskyy added that the security service also struck a military airfield in the Rostov region, damaging an An-12 transport plane, two An-26 aircraft, and three helicopters.
Russia’s Defence Ministry stated that its forces hit metallurgical and electronics plants, defence-industrial facilities, and energy and transport infrastructure. It claimed three bulk carriers and a ferry carrying military supplies for Ukrainian forces were struck in the port of Chornomorsk.
Also on Thursday, Ukraine received the bodies of 252 fallen soldiers as part of ongoing repatriation exchanges with Russia, according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Russian authorities confirmed the remains belonged to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel, the agency stated, adding that Ukrainian law enforcement officers and forensic experts will conduct examinations to identify the deceased.
AP