(BBC News) One person has been killed and 26 others were injured after a night of intensive Russian strikes on almost every district in Kyiv, officials say.
A pall of acrid smoke hung over the Ukrainian capital on Friday morning following hours of nightfall punctuated by the staccato of air defence guns, buzz of drones and large explosions. Ukraine said Russia fired a record 539 drones and 11 missiles.
The strikes came hours after a call between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said he was “disappointed” that Putin was not ready to end the war against Ukraine.
Moscow says the war will continue for as long as it is necessary to reach its objectives.
Russia’s overnight air strikes broke another record, Ukraine’s air force said, with 72 of the 539 drones penetrating air defences – up from a previous record of 537 launched last Saturday night.
Air raid alerts sounded for more than eight hours as several waves of attacks struck Kyiv, the “main target of the strikes,” the air force said on the messaging app Telegram.
Footage shared on social media by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed firefighters battling to extinguish fires in Kyiv after Russia’s overnight attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes as one of the most “demonstratively significant and cynical” attacks of the war, describing a “harsh, sleepless night”.
Noting that it came directly after Putin’s call with Trump, Zelensky added in a post on Telegram: “Russia once again demonstrates that it does not intend to end the war.”
He called on international allies – particularly the US – to increase pressure on Moscow and impose greater sanctions.
Later on Friday, Zelensky and Trump held a phone call regarding the supply of US weapons, which the Ukrainian leader said was a “very important and fruitful conversation.” It came after Washington decided to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine, including those used for air defences.
“We spoke about opportunities in air defence and agreed that we will work together to strengthen protection of our skies,” Zelensky said on X.
Kyiv has warned that the move to pause some shipments would impede its ability to defend Ukraine against escalating airstrikes and Russian advances on the frontlines.
According to Ukrainian authorities, the overnight strikes damaged railway infrastructure, while schools, buildings and cars were set ablaze across Kyiv.
