Ukraine has accused Vladimir Putin of “publicly humiliating” Donald Trump after Russia launched a devastating attack with a record number of drones and ballistic missiles on Kyiv, hours after the two leaders spoke by phone.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the seven-hour raid as a “deliberate act of terror” which “immediately followed the call between Washington and Moscow”. It was one of the most severe assaults of the entire war and a “clear interpretation of how Moscow interprets diplomacy”, he added.
The sustained and coordinated night-time attack involved more than 550 Russian drones and ballistic missiles – a record. Families in Kyiv spent the night in metro stations, basements and underground parking garages.
Drones could be heard circling the skies above the capital one after another. There were numerous booms and explosions, and the staccato rattle of machine-gun fire, as Ukrainian air defence units tried to shoot down the missiles.
The air raid ended at 9am local time, leaving a thick pall of choking black smoke over the city. Residents were advised to keep their windows shut because of fires. According to officials, at least 23 people were injured, 14 of whom were taken to hospital. Blasts damaged apartment blocks, cars and warehouses.
There was also disruption to the normally reliable rail network. Passengers arriving at Kyiv’s main station on Thursday night had to file out through underground tunnels, with the main concourse closed and many services on Friday delayed.
After his conversation with Putin on Thursday, Trump said they had discussed the war “in a pretty long call”. But he said there was no movement towards a ceasefire, with Putin reportedly insisting on Ukraine’s capitulation. “I’m not happy about that. No, I didn’t make any progress with him today at all,” Trump said.
Thursday’s attack came after the Pentagon this week halted the delivery of some weapons shipments to Ukraine, including replacement interceptor missiles used in Patriot air defence systems. Ukrainians have said the decision leaves their cities defenceless, emboldens Russia and facilitates deadly attacks.
The Ukrainian government has been careful not to criticise the US president directly. But it wants Washington and other allies, including the UK and EU, to put further pressure on Moscow to stop the war and its relentless aerial attacks on civilians.
“There must be consequences – not eventually, but now,” Zelenskyy said. “Strengthened sanctions. Immediate delivery of air defence systems. A shift from caution to clarity. The Kremlin is watching the world’s reaction. So are others.”
Zelenskyy said he hoped to speak with Trump on Friday about the supply of US weapons, amid low expectations of a change in White House policy.
One senior Ukrainian official suggested Trump’s apparent strategy of appeasing Putin was not working. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Zelenskyy’s office, said any US phone call with Putin “inevitably results in massive demonstrative shelling of Kyiv – with enormous destruction”.
Putin treated these conversations as “an opportunity to publicly humiliate the other side’s reputation”. It was a “way to demonstrate his [Putin’s] boundlessness and willingness to kill ever more brazenly,” Podolyak posted on social media.
after newsletter promotion
With supplies of anti-aircraft missiles running low, Ukraine is increasingly using home-produced drones to take down incoming Shahed missiles. But it is struggling to cope with the overwhelming numbers flooding its skies. According to the Ukrainian air force, 72 out of 550 drones and missiles hit their targets in Thursday’s raid.
The attack was the latest in a series of Russian airstrikes on Kyiv that have intensified in recent weeks and included some of the deadliest assaults of the war on the city of 3 million people.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said damage was recorded in six of Kyiv’s 10 districts on both sides of the Dnipro River, which bisects the city, and falling drone debris set a medical facility on fire in the Holosiivskyi district.
Klitschko said two fires had broken out in the western Sviatoshynskyi district when drone debris fell on a warehouse, while debris from another drone set fire to cars in the courtyard of a 16-storey residential building.
Drones also triggered two fires on a roof and in a courtyard in buildings in the neighbouring Solomianskyi district, and a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, he said.
Ukraine, meanwhile, launched a drone attack on the city of Sergiyev Posad near Moscow, injuring at least one person. Explosions were reported in at least four locations, the head of the district, Oksana Yerokhanova, said on Friday.
“I ask everyone to remain calm, not to approach the windows, not to photograph the work of the air defence,” Yerokhanova wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Another drone attack on the southern Russian region of Rostov region killed at least one person, the acting governor of the region, Yury Slyusar, said on Telegram on Friday.