Kyiv — Russia launched its largest aerial assault of the Ukraine war overnight into Sunday, deploying more than 800 drones and striking a government building in Kyiv for the first time.
The attack hit the Cabinet of Ministers building, which houses the prime minister’s office, as well as some government ministries, for the first time since the war began.
An infant was among at least two people killed in drone strikes on several residential buildings in the capital, which was under an air-raid siren for 11 hours, Kyiv’s city office said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X that a total of four people had been killed across all of Ukraine Sunday and 44 had been injured.
Moscow’s forces launched a total of 810 drones, four ballistic missiles and nine cruise missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said. While most were shot down by air defenses, 54 drones and nine missiles hit targets across Ukraine, the air force said.
That surpasses the size of a July attack by Moscow that was previously the largest of the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
The assault comes after recent attempts by Kyiv’s Western allies to broker a peace deal as momentum to end the war stalls, leaving the White House frustrated. In an interview with ABC News aired Sunday, Zelensky said that US President Donald Trump “gave (Russian President Vladimir) Putin what he wanted” at last month’s Alaska summit between the two world leaders which ended with no concrete deal.
Trump told reporters on Sunday he will speak with Putin “very soon” to address the Russia-Ukraine conflict and expressed his disapproval “with anything having to do with that war,” amid mounting frustrations over stalled peace efforts.
“I am not thrilled with what’s happening there,” he told reporters.
The US president also appeared to suggest that some European leaders will visit the White House early this week.
The president’s comments come after he signalled to reporters earlier in the day that his administration is ready to move to the second phase of sanctions against Russia. (CNN)
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