Nine killed in strikes on Kyiv, as Ukraine sinks Russian container ship
Chris Graham
Moscow has been escalating deadly ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine's capital
At least nine people have been killed and dozens injured in Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Moscow has escalated deadly ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv recently, prompting Zelensky to say that missile interceptors are urgently needed.
The strikes come two days after a suspected Russian cruise missile landed in Poland during a widespread attack on Ukraine that killed at least eight people, including six members of one family.
Separately, Ukrainian drones sank a Russian-owned container ship in the Black Sea on Saturday. Moscow said all 17 crew were rescued.
Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the capital had come under a ballistic missile attack on Saturday, with AFP reporting more than 10 explosions.
Fires broke out across the city and power cuts were reported in some areas.
Klitschko said a residential building in Shevchenkivskyi was partially destroyed, trapping people inside.
The emergency services said at least seven people were killed in a strike in the Darnytskyi district. Another 14 were injured, including two children, it reported.
In Solomyanskyi district, two people died and eight were injured, including two children, as a five-storey residential building was partially destroyed, officials said.
A missile landed near the Lithuanian embassy, breaking windows and scattering debris in the compound, Lithuania's foreign ministry said.
Reuters
Zelensky said in a post on X that the sanctioned 100,000-tonne capacity container ship Yanina had been "sent to the bottom".
Moscow confirmed the attack in a statement from state-owned nuclear operator Rosatom, which owns the ship.
Rosatom said it had been transporting civilian goods including frozen food and construction materials, adding that the attack took place 130 miles (209km) from Novorossiysk.
"Such an attack cannot be interpreted as anything other than piracy and robbery," Rosatom's CEO Alexey Likhachev said, adding that all 17 crew members were in a "satisfactory" condition.
Ukraine has targeted Russian-flagged ships in the Black Sea since Russia's full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.
The attack on Kyiv comes after Zelensky met President Donald Trump in Washington DC earlier this week to urge the US to grant Ukraine a licence to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.
Asked about the missiles during a cabinet meeting at the Camp David retreat on Friday, Trump said the US had not agreed to Ukraine building Patriot missiles but that talks were ongoing.
He said the US had to be "very careful about letting somebody build them".
Emphasising concerns about sharing advanced US weaponry, Trump called it "a big step".
Trump's latest comments regarding Patriot missiles come weeks after he offered to give Ukraine the right to produce them.
As Russia has stepped up its air attacks, Ukraine has run low on supplies of Patriots, which remain the only weapon in its arsenal capable of downing ballistic missiles.
"I don't think this would ever happen, but, you know, those people that you give that technology, they can someday turn on you," Trump said.
Zelensky said in a post on X on Friday that he had followed up on his meeting with Trump with a "good" phone call with US Vice-President JD Vance.
"As Russia's air attacks on our country continue unabated, air defence – specifically Patriot interceptors against ballistic missiles – remains a top priority," Zelensky wrote.
For its part, Ukraine has escalated its retaliatory strikes in recent months, including attacks on several retail warehouses belonging to Russia's biggest online retailer, Wildberries.
Kyiv says it is targeting logistics hubs used by Russians to buy military equipment, and disrupting supplies to the Russian army.
More about this story
Trump now 'not sure' about letting Ukraine build Patriot missiles
At least five members of same family killed in Russian missile attack, Zelensky says
Missile that left crater deep inside Poland was probably Russian - Polish PM
Reuters