Russia launched a massive attack on Kiev earlier Thursday, following a Trump administration once again slamming Ukrainian capital in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, killing at least eight people and wounding more than 60 people in the Ukrainian capital and threatening to abandon peace talks.
The attack has been the deadliest in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine since last summer. An explosion could be heard all night. Brown smoke rises up the city as the sun rises.
An missile struck a two-story building and emergency workers hunted for survivors Thursday morning. A five-story building next door lost all its windows. People stood outside, staring at the hurt and talking on their phones, telling their loved ones that they are still alive. There are no military targets nearby.
Mr Zelensky said that including nearly 70 missiles in ballistics, about 150 attack drones target cities across the country, although Kiev is the most popular one.
“Everyone around the world can see and understand what is actually happening,” he wrote in a social media post, adding that he will briefly visit South Africa and return to Ukraine after meeting with the president of South Africa.
The attack took place hours after President Trump and his top aides asked Kiev to accept a U.S.-designed plan that appears to grant Russia all the territory it acquired in the war, which began with a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. The plan also provides Kyiv with vague assurances about the future security of the country. So far, Mr. Zelensky said that Ukraine cannot accept such an agreement.
Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has responded to the key points of the Kremlin conversation in the war, a reversal of U.S. policy under the Biden administration. Over the past week, the Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to get rid of the peace process, claiming that both sides are not concerned. On Wednesday, the planned peace talks in London were downgraded, mainly because of the United States' decision not to participate.
Mr. Trump later called the Ukrainian president “incitement” in a social media article and said Mr. Zelensky would only “extend the area of murder.”
“The president is frustrated; his patience is thin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters later that day. But she responded that Mr. Trump seemed to shift the blame to Mr. Zelensky, saying that Mr. Trump seeks peace, but that Ukraine's leaders seem to be “moving in the wrong direction.”
Mr Zelensky again noted in a social media post on Thursday that Ukraine accepted a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in March, while Russian President Vladimir V. Putin refused to agree to the plan. The temporary truce announced by Mr. Putin on Easter Sunday seemed more like a public relations stunt than an actual ceasefire on the frontline – but at least Ukrainian cities survived at least largely the 30 hours of the armistice.
That was not the case early Thursday. Shortly after midnight, the first air alarm sounded.
Yevhenii Plakhotnikov, 40, sells furniture and lives opposite a two-story apartment building hit by a missile. He said he woke up and heard the buzzing of the drone and began to wear clothes. A message on the telegram – many Ukrainians rely on a message platform for missile alerts – indicates that a ballistic missile was fired.
Mr Plakhotnikov said he went to the corridor to wear shoes.
“When I put on my second sneakers, I heard the first explosion,” he recalled in an interview. “Then I heard some heavy falls. All my inner doors were torn in half. I opened the door and saw shrapnel flying.”
He said he helped others leave his building. There, a man stood, covered in blood. Another stood further away and just said, “The apartment building in the courtyard disappeared.”
Emergency workers search for survivors in the rubble. At 8:30 a.m. local time, Svitlana Vodolaha, spokeswoman for emergency services, told reporters: “We just dug up another person. Alive!”
Tetyana Hrynenko, 58, stood on the street, covering her mouth with her hands, and raised her destroyed apartment, next to a flat building.
Ms Hrynenko said: “The most important thing is that we are still alive. She added: “I heard screams – 'Help! ' – People are asking for help.
Residents managed to clean up the rubble stairwell and allowed Ms. Hrynenko and others to put it outside.
Ukrainian officials say Russia will only intensify attacks on civilians since the start of US-led peace talks.
Ukrainian President's Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak posted a video on social media showing emergency workers outside the building that was destroyed on Thursday. “Again, Russia attacked civilians,” he said.
Other Ukrainian officials urged Western partners to supplement Kiev's air defense. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Ukraine lacks air and Chinese defense forces are unable to shoot down large numbers of missiles and drones.
In March, Mr. Trump promised to work with Mr. Zelensky to find the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system. But when Mr. Zelensky said this month he wanted to buy the Patriots from the United States, Mr. Trump suggested that Ukraine “start a war” and said the Ukrainian president “has been seeking to buy missiles.”
Thursday’s attack on Kief was one of the deadliest in the war and one of the worst in the capital since July, when Russian missiles destroyed a children’s hospital in Kiev and killed more than 20 people across the city. Recent deadly missile attacks have also targeted the cities of Sumy and Kryvyi Rih, causing massive civilian casualties.
Authorities initially said nine people were killed in Kiev on Thursday, but later reduced the confirmed death toll to eight.
As search and rescue efforts continued for several hours on Thursday morning attacks, those affected by the strike said they hoped the war would end but could not see an acceptance of a unilateral deal that would benefit Russia.
“We were very disappointed yesterday that the negotiations didn't move forward and then overnight,” Ms. Hrynenko said. “I was disappointed. Exhausted.”
Mr Plakhotnikov said he did not know the way out of Ukraine.
“It doesn't make sense to continue the war, but it can't stop,” he said.
Andrew E. Kramer From Kharkif, Ukraine and Oleksandra mykolyshyn From Kyiv.
