Russian Drones Kill 3 Near Kyiv, Ukraine Retaliates
Russian aerial attacks near Kyiv killed three people and wounded several others, Ukrainian officials said Friday, while Ukrainian drones targeted sites in 12 Russian regions, halting work at one factory.
Moscow has launched drone or missile attacks almost every day on the capital since it launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, ostensibly targeting military and energy facilities.
Black smoke billowed from a residential building damaged in the Russian strike as rescue workers hauled out the bodies of the victims, official images from the scene showed.
“Three people were killed in an enemy attack in the Kyiv region,” the emergency services said in a statement on social media.
It said fragments of a drone had struck a 10-storey residential building after the head of the region said a private home had also been hit.
The Ukrainian air force said that its air defence systems had shot down 25 Russian attack drones over seven regions, including Kyiv and the western Lviv region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out at Russia and said Ukrainian allies should clamp down on sanctions to stop Moscow from producing arms.
“There must be accountability for every component for the production of Shaheds and missiles that are supplied in violation of sanctions,” he said in a statement on social media.
The attack outside Kyiv came as Russian authorities said they repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow.
The Russian defence ministry said its air defence systems had shot down 121 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over Moscow, the occupied Crimean peninsula, and also the western Bryansk region.
State media reported that a microelectronics factory had halted work after six Ukrainian drones damaged production and storage facilities in the Bryansk region.
Moscow and Kyiv are vying for advantage ahead of possible negotiations in the early days of US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Prior to his inauguration, Trump vowed to end the Ukraine war immediately upon taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force Kyiv to make concessions to Russia, which invaded in February 2022.
But this week he stepped up pressure on Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to make a deal, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the nearly three-year-old war.
During a Fox News interview on Thursday, Trump said: “If they don’t settle this war soon, like almost immediately, I’m going to put massive tariffs on Russia, and massive taxes, and also big sanctions.
