Russia made another move and struck Kyiv with a wave of powerful “kamikaze” drones on Monday.
The recent deadly attack has reportedly killed at least three people, including a pregnant woman in the second set of coordinated airstrikes over the past week after the residences inside the apartment building collapsed on top of each other.
Buildings were also set ablaze, sending the frantic residents to find shelters as drones continued to strike central Kyiv.
In a statement released by Mayor Vitali Klitschko, he revealed that 28 drones hit the capital city. One of which appeared to target the city’s heating network while another one tore through a four-story apartment building.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office also confirmed to the public that 19 people were rescued from inside the building.
However, the authorities revealed that additional deaths have been reported in other cities as a result of the attacks.
Following the recent deadly attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on social media and said, “the whole night, and the whole morning, the enemy terrorizes the population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us.”
Meanwhile, Andriy Yermak, the president’s chief of staff, also called on the West to step up and supply his country with greater air defense systems.
“We have no time for slow actions,” Yermak warned.
This came after Russia also launched the same drones, attacking Ukraine’s Kyiv and Odessa provinces on Thursday, leaving five people dead after the missiles struck an apartment building there.
According to Mykolaiv’s regional governor Vitaliy Kim, an 11-year-old boy was among the dead after he was trapped under rubble for six hours before he was rescued and brought to a nearby hospital where he later died.
“There are no words!!! Terrorist creatures,” Kim said of the Russians.
Following the attacks, the US Embassy in Kyiv condemned the drone strikes, calling the attacks “desperate and reprehensible.”
Meanwhile, Russia reportedly denied targeting civilians, though Defense Ministry spokesman Ignor Konashenkov.
According to the Russian officials, the airstrikes had hit “all designated targets.”
Konashenkov also insisted that “Russia troops had stopped Ukrainian forces from advancing in both the Donetsk and Kherson regions. Both areas are parts of Ukraine that the Kremlin falsely claimed to have annexed last month.”
