At least 14 dead after Russian bombardments of Ukraine

At least 14 people were killed in a series of Russian airstrikes on Ukraine, authorities said on Monday, as missile and drone attacks targeted multiple cities including the capital, Kiev.

Kiev officials said nine people were killed and 33 injured in an overnight assault on the Ukrainian capital. Mayor Vitali Klitschko sad the casualties occurred during a strike on a residential building. Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko described the attack as involving heavy rocket and drone strikes.

Authorities reported one person killed in the wider Kiev region and two others in the northern Chernihiv region, where a further 10 people were injured in related attacks.

In southern Ukraine, at least two people were killed in a Russian missile strike, President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on his Telegram channel.

A ballistic missile hit a largely empty secondary school in the city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi during school holidays, Zelensky said. Around a dozen people were injured in the strike on the city, located on the Dniester Estuary in the Odessa region.

Zelensky called for increased international pressure on Russia through stricter sanctions. “If Russia cannot be forced to make peace, the protection of schools, hospitals and ordinary homes in other European countries will have to be considered,” he said.

Ukraine has been resisting a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022 with Western support.

Earlier, Zelensky accused Russia of acting out of self-interest, writing on X that Moscow had “performatively” condemned US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend.

“Today, Moscow is silent after the Russian army carried out a completely cynical strike using Russian-Iranian Shahed drones and missiles against civilian infrastructure in Kyiv and other cities and communities of ours,” he wrote.