Russia carried out a deadly large-scale wave of strikes against Ukraine, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was the main target, but other areas were also hit, with about 100 people injured.
Four people were killed in the capital and wider region, with loud explosions heard across the area throughout the night. Dozens of residential buildings, a school, an opera house and a museum were damaged.
Russia’s defence ministry said the Oreshnik hypersonic missile was used in the strikes, which it described as coming in response to Ukraine’s “attacks on civilian infrastructure”. Ukraine’s military denies targeting civilians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Earlier this week, he accused Kyiv of hitting a student dormitory in the town of Starobilsk on Friday, in which Russian officials said 21 people were killed.
Ukraine’s military said its forces did carry out an attack in Starobilsk in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine overnight on Friday, but maintained that it struck an elite Russian drone military unit.
European leaders have condemned the overnight Russian strikes on Sunday, which came after warnings from Zelensky that Russia was planning an attack, and that it may have been preparing to use the Oreshnik missile.
It reportedly travels at more than 10 times the speed of sound, is hard to intercept, and is known to be capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads.
