Russian Strikes Kill Several Across Ukraine, Hit Kyiv Districts

Russian attacks killed three people in two Ukrainian cities on Sunday, officials said, as strikes also hit several Kyiv districts, a market on the capital's outskirts, and towns in the Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions.³⁹⁵

Kyiv under fire

According to officials cited by multiple outlets, a drone strike ignited a fire at a market in the western Kyiv suburb of Sofiiska Borshchahivka, resulting in two deaths. About ten people were injured in the attack, according to the South China Morning Post.⁷¹⁸

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that drone strikes landed close to a kindergarten and a playground located in two of the capital's districts. "Drones hit areas near a kindergarten and a playground in two districts," he said. Nine people were injured across Kyiv, including a child, according to officials.³¹⁵⁸

According to a single source, a drone struck a high-rise apartment building in eastern Kyiv, triggering a fire and wounding one person; this detail has not been corroborated elsewhere.³

Russian forces also struck Kyivstar's headquarters, Ukraine's largest mobile service provider, and hit data centres in the capital, officials said. Russia's defence ministry stated its forces struck two data centres in Kyiv and a logistics hub in Odesa.⁵⁸⁶

Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia

Regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said three glide bombs landed close to a family support centre in Sumy, causing two fatalities. Officials said Russia aims to convert parts of the Sumy region into a buffer zone.³⁹⁵⁸

Officials said a drone hit a vehicle in Kharkiv, resulting in the death of its driver. Separately, Al Jazeera reported that a Russian guided bomb struck a residential building in Kharkiv early Monday, injuring six children, and that airstrikes on Sumy killed three people, among them a 16-year-old girl.³⁵⁸²

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes claimed three lives in the Zaporizhzhia region and one man's life in Kyiv. "Three people were killed in the Zaporizhzhia region and a man died in Kyiv as a result of strikes," he said.⁴

Conflicting tolls

Death tolls varied between outlets. According to The Guardian, eight people died nationwide from Russian strikes on Sunday, whereas Bloomberg put the toll at a minimum of six, noting the airstrikes also caused damage to data centres in Kyiv. Al Jazeera reported a 'massive strike' on Odesa region killed one person, in addition to the other tolls.¹⁴²

Zelenskyy's accusations

Zelenskyy claimed Russia launched roughly 3,900 drones, aerial bombs and missiles against Ukraine during the previous week, though Al Jazeera offered a different count, citing more than 2,200 attack drones, 1,630 aerial bombs and 38 missiles fired over the same span. "Russia has no military objective whatsoever in doing this – it is purely an attempt to break people," Zelenskyy said.¹²

He said the choice of targets amounted to terrorism, stating: "Anywhere in the world, this choice of targets would be called by one word – terrorism." He added that Moscow's stated openness to de-escalation, including to American negotiators, was inconsistent with the continuing strikes: "If Russia were truly preparing for any real steps toward de-escalation – as it claims, particularly to American negotiators – this wave of terror would not be happening."¹

Diplomatic disputes

South Korea demanded an apology from Ukraine over its disclosure of a North Korean prisoner-of-war transfer, which Zelenskyy had raised at a UN address, according to the Guardian. South Korean official Seong Ghi-hong stated: "The presidential office expresses strong regret over Ukraine's unilateral disclosure and its subsequent false announcement." In a separate development, Russia's senior diplomat rejected Germany's appeals to pull back from what Berlin described as a dangerous escalation.¹