At least 10 killed in Ukraine after 'massive' Russian daytime attacks

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukraine on Friday faced nearly 500 Russian missile and drone attacks that killed at least 10 people, officials said, the latest in an increasing number of daytime strikes by Moscow.

Russia has been launching aerial barrages at Ukraine throughout its invasion, mostly at night, but in recent weeks it has stepped up daytime attacks.

“Terrorist Russia strikes in broad daylight deliberately — to maximize civilian casualties and damage,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said, adding that Moscow fired almost 500 drones and missiles.

Images from Ukrainian emergency services showed damaged residential buildings, with a block of flats ripped and rubble strewn on a street.

The attack killed one person and left eight wounded in the capital region of Kyiv, regional Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said.

“Unfortunately, animals were also affected by the attack — approximately 20 animals died due to damage to a veterinary clinic,” Kalashnyk added.

Some residents of the capital sheltered in the subway or in basements, AFP reporters said, but many people sat in cafes unfazed by the barrage and despite blaring air raid sirens.

In the Kyiv region, “a drone struck a residential building in Obukhiv, and another attack occurred between a kindergarten and a school in Vyshneve, damaging homes,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.

Three people were killed in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, according to authorities. One person was killed in the northwestern Zhytomyr region, while attacks on the frontline Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson regions killed five others, local officials said.

Easter truce?

The barrage prompted emergency power outages in several regions, operator Ukrenergo said.

“This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals — with brutal attacks,” Sybiga said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready for a truce over the Easter holidays but the Kremlin said it had not received any proposals.

Ukraine has accused Russia of prolonging the war to capture more  territory and says Moscow is not interested in peace.

Talks between the two warring parties, mediated by the United States, have been stalled by the war in the Middle East.

In comments to reporters, including from AFP, published on Friday, Zelenskyy said he had invited an American delegation to Ukraine to relaunch negotiations with Moscow.

“The delegation will do everything possible in the current conditions — during the war with Iran — to come to Kyiv,” Zelenskyy said.

“The American group can come to us and, after us, go to Moscow. If it does not work out with three parties, let’s do it this way,” he added.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys have been engaged in a three-way shuttle diplomacy with Ukrainian and Russian teams in a bid to end the four-year war.

But these have stalled as Washington has been occupied with an aerial campaign on Iran it launched late February.

Amid the Middle East war, Kyiv has sought to leverage its expertise in fighting off Russian drones similar to those used by Iran in retaliatory attacks across Gulf nations.

Last week, Zelenskyy visited several Middle Eastern countries and signed defense agreements with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

He also suggested Kyiv could help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure by Iran has rattled the global economy.

He did not specify how Ukraine could contribute, but cited Kyiv’s experience in restoring passage through the Black Sea, which Russia had blocked at the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine.

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By ANIA TSOUKANOVA Agence France-Presse