At least 14 killed as Russia strikes Ukraine a day after Zelenskyy warning

Russia has killed at least 14 people in air strikes on Ukraine, including one person in Kyiv, a day after the Ukrainian president warned that a “massive” attack was imminent.

Attacks extended as far west as the city of Lviv, forcing neighbouring Poland to scramble fighter jets to secure its airspace, according to a statement by its armed forces on X.

Multiple explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital soon after 1am local time on Thursday (22:00 GMT Wednesday), according to Kyiv Independent reporters on the ground.

One person was killed and two more injured in Kyiv, emergency services said. At least six more, including two children, were killed in Dnipropetrovsk, and another person was killed in Poltava, according to regional administrators in both areas.

In the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kryvyi Rih, two girls aged five and 12 were among six people killed. Eight people were injured in what Oleksandr Vilkul, the city’s defence council head, said was a direct strike by a Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile.

“A dark night,” Vilkul said on Telegram, adding that the missile, launched from Russia’s Voronezh region, struck the home of a large family. He warned the death toll could increase as emergency workers clear away rubble.

In Lviv, close to Poland, rescue workers were scrambling to clear rubble to reach those trapped after Russian missiles damaged two apartment buildings and injured 26, officials said.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces struck ⁠what it called ⁠military facilities across Ukraine, in areas from Kyiv ‌to Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk. It also said it struck three cargo ships, which it ⁠accused of carrying weapons and military ⁠equipment around the Black ⁠Sea city of Odesa.

“This Russian terror once again proves that protection against the Russian missile threat is the most important task when it comes to saving the lives of our people,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X on Thursday, adding that the work cannot be “left to Ukraine alone or to any one country alone”.

Zelenskyy’s warning

On Wednesday, Zelenskyy had warned that a “massive” Russian attack on Ukraine was likely. He said the safety of Ukrainians depended on the willingness of allies to provide anti-missile defences.

He was returning from the United States, where he said President Donald Trump had agreed to give Ukraine licences to make Patriot missiles.

In an X post, Zelenskyy also repeated his plea to Ukraine’s allies to give Kyiv the missiles its air defences lack.

In early July, Trump had expressed his intention to allow Ukraine to make the surface-to-air missiles at a time when Russia had stepped up its ballistic missile strikes.

Only US Patriot systems are capable of shooting down Russian missiles, but Ukraine is short of PAC-3 interceptor missiles.

This shortage has worsened since the war on Iran launched by the US and Israel in February.

In Washington, DC, Zelenskyy held what he called a “good meeting” with Trump, as he underscored Russian President Vladimir Putin’s loss of initiative on the war front due to heavy losses.

Zelenskyy spent just over an hour with Trump at the White House, in talks that came as Kyiv and Moscow intensified long-range strikes, as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war stalled.

After the meeting, Trump posted photos to social media with a note that said: “Many things were discussed. The meeting went very well!”

Relations between Zelenskyy and Trump have warmed since the start of the US president’s second term, with Trump suggesting earlier this month that Ukrainian strikes inside Russia “could help” end the war.

Wildberries warehouse on fire

Later Thursday morning, a Ukrainian drone attack set a warehouse belonging to top Russian online retailer Wildberries on fire in the western city of Penza, Governor Oleg Melnichenko said on Telegram.

One person was injured and about 200 people were evacuated, he added, just a day after the company, which has become a frequent target of Ukraine’s attacks, evacuated another facility in central Russia.

Zelenskyy accuses Wildberries of trading in goods used to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has rejected the accusation.