Zelensky says attacks 'increasing' as 2 killed in missile and drone attacks

Zelensky says attacks 'increasing' as 2 killed in missile and drone attacks
by AFP Staff Writers
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) April 6, 2025

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Sunday that Moscow is increasing its aerial bombardment after Russia mounted a "massive" missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight, killing two people and wounding at least seven.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that "the number of Russian air attacks is increasing", which he said proved that "the pressure on Russia is still insufficient".

Russia on Sunday claimed the capture of a village in Ukraine's Sumy region in a rare cross-border advance.

Early Sunday Russia "launched a massive nationwide attack on Ukraine using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones," said first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

In the capital Kyiv, explosions were heard overnight and a dark plume of smoke rose up from the city early Sunday morning, AFP journalists saw.

"Preliminarily, one person was killed, and three were wounded, two of them were hospitalised," the head of the city's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, wrote on social media.

City mayor Vitali Klitschko said that "the body of a man killed in an enemy attack was discovered in Darnytsia district. He was on the street, near the epicentre of the explosion. The man's identity is being established."

A missile strike partially destroyed a building housing state foreign-language broadcasters, the Russian-language Freedom television channel reported, saying that its newsroom had been destroyed.

Emergency services said that during attacks, fires broke out in Kyiv in non-residential buildings, damaging a multi-storey business centre, furniture factory and warehouses. In the nearby Kyiv region a man was burnt when an attack sparked a house fire, the head of the military administration said.

The emergency services posted video of smoke rising from charred debris, a gutted hangar and a large multi-storey administrative building with the roof torn off and windows blown out.

Overnight, Russia attacked Ukraine with 23 cruise and ballistic missiles and 109 drones, the Ukrainian air force said, causing damage to six regions.

The air force said it shot down 13 of the missiles and 40 drones while 54 others caused no damage.

In the southern Kherson region, a drone killed a 59-year-old man, while in the northeastern Kharkiv region near the border with Russia two were injured in an attack using guided aerial bombs, regional officials said.

In western Ukraine's Khmelnytsky region, authorities said air defences destroyed a missile but falling fragments damaged a house and a woman was injured.

Over the past week, Russia has launched more than 1,460 guided aerial bombs, nearly 670 attack drones, and over 30 missiles of various types on Ukraine, Zelensky said.

- Cross-border advance -

Russia's defence ministry said troops liberated the village of Basivka, close to the border with Russia's Kursk region, only the second time it has claimed an advance into the region since 2022.

Moscow claimed the capture of another village in Sumy region in early March but Ukraine has not confirmed Russia has taken territory there, saying it is managing to destroy small Russian assault groups attempting to cross the border.

The latest attacks came two days after a missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people including nine children on Friday evening.

The UN's high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, on Sunday denounced Russia's "reckless disregard" for human life in using "an explosive weapon with wide area effects".

Russia on Sunday said it had struck a central artillery base and enterprises involved in producing drones and hit its targets.

It accused Ukraine of striking its energy infrastructure including a gas distribution facility in the Voronezh region.

- US-Russia talks 'next week' -

US President Donald Trump is pushing the two sides to agree to a partial ceasefire, but his administration has failed to broker an accord acceptable to both.

The US is also seeking a thaw in ties with Russia and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev in an interview with state television said that the next US-Russian contacts could be "already next week", Russian news agencies reported.

Dmitriev visited Washington last week -- becoming the most senior Russian official to do so since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Zelensky on Saturday hailed "tangible progress" after meeting British and French military chiefs in Kyiv on Friday to discuss a plan by London and Paris to send a "reassurance" force to Ukraine if and when a deal on ending the conflict is reached.

This is one of the latest efforts by European leaders to agree on a coordinated policy after Trump sidelined them and opened direct talks with the Kremlin.

The Ukrainian president wrote on social media that the meeting with British Chief of the Defence Staff Tony Radakin and French counterpart Thierry Burkhard agreed "the first details on how the security contingent of partners can be deployed".