Twelve killed in fresh Russian attack on Ukraine as Zelensky urges ‘strong pressure’ on Moscow

At least 12 people were killed and 70 injured in a Russian attack on Ukrainian cities overnight, the country’s Interior Ministry reported on Sunday, calling it “another terrible night” for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and its surroundings, as well as 12 more regions, including the Odesa, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zhytomyr, Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk region, came under a mass drone and missile attack.

Russia launched a total of 298 drones and 69 missiles at Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force said, adding that its forces shot down 45 missiles and 139 drones, while another 127 drones disappeared from radars, likely used as decoys.

The death toll includes three children — aged 8, 12, and 17 — who were killed in the attack on the Zhytomyr region, in northern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attacks in a statement on X, stressing that the war cannot end “without truly strong pressure on Russian leadership”.

“Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day,” Zelensky wrote. “The world may go on a weekend break, but the war continues, regardless of weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored. Silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourage Putin.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called for “a full, unconditional and durable ceasefire” in a statement on X, adding: “When the entire world calls for an end to the killing, Putin orders even more strikes, attacks, and murders of children … The world must pressure Russia to accept [the ceasefire] and put an end to the killings immediately.”

The fresh attack follows Saturday’s combined drone and missile strike on Ukrainian regions in which Russia launched 14 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 250 Iranian-made Shahed drones at several cities across Ukraine, including Kharkiv, Donetsk and Odesa, with Kyiv bearing the brunt of the assault.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry said its air defence forces had shot down 110 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions overnight, including the central Tula region, the western border regions of Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk, and the western Tver and Smolensk region. Independent news channel ASTRA wrote that an air base in the country’s western Tver region was hit in the strike, but no injuries were reported.