At least four people were killed and 20 others were wounded in a massive Russian aerial attack, hours after US president Donald Trump warned that Vladimir Putin’s response to a significant Ukrainian drone strike on Russian airbases “will not be pretty”.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported Russia had launched ballistic missiles and drones into the war-torn country in the early hours today as mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed powerful explosions going off in the Ukrainian capital. Officials said the death toll could rise as rescue workers were still looking for people under the rubble of buildings.
Casting doubts on successful peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, Mr Trump said “sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart”.
He also said that he told the Russian president that the two nations at war, was like “two young children fighting like crazy in a park” during his one hour and 15 minute long phone call on Wednesday.
His comments came as he welcomed German chancellor Friedrich Merz to the Oval Office in the first meeting between the two leaders.
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Key Points
- Four killed in Russian air attack on city, officials in Kyiv say
- Trump says he's better off letting Ukraine and Russia ‘fight for a while’
- Kyiv under major drone attack after Putin threatened response
- Trump secretly admired 'badass' Ukrainian drone attack - reports
- Kremlin vows to retaliate for attacks on planes and bridges
Russia says it downed 174 Ukrainian drones overnight
06:26
,
Arpan Rai
Russia’s defence ministry has said its air defence units have downed 174 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Russia only reports the drones it claims to have shot down, and does not reveal total numbers or when they hit their targets.
Meanwhile, Russia mounted a major attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv killing four and injuring at least 20 people in residential areas.
The attack followed a warning from Russian president Vladimir Putin, conveyed via US leader Donald Trump, that the Kremlin would hit back after Ukrainian drones destroyed several strategic bomber aircraft in attacks deep inside Russia.
Kyiv struck by Russia's Kalibr cruise missiles, says Ukraine
06:19
,
Arpan Rai
Ukraine's Air Force said the Kyiv city had been targeted overnight with drones and Kalibr cruise missiles.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said drones had struck the upper floors of a high-rise apartment building and started a fire in Darnytskyi district on the east side of the city, where he said emergency power cuts were possible.
Mr Tkachenko said a fire had also broken out in an apartment building in a western district. He said drone fragments had been spotted in three districts.
Reuters witnesses reported a series of booming explosions powerful enough to rattle windows far from the impact sites, and at least one large fire at the site of a drone hit.
Some Kyiv residents sought shelter in metro stations, or in underground car parks.
Photos show powerful explosions from Russian attacks on Kyiv which killed four
06:12
,
Arpan Rai
Four killed in Russian air attack on city, officials in Kyiv say
06:06
,
Arpan Rai
At least four people were killed in an overnight Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The toll was revised up from the previous figure of one dead.
Russia mounted an intense and sustained barrage of Kyiv overnight, with missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital where there was a succession of large explosions.
By daybreak today, authorities in Kyiv reported that one person was killed and 20 people had been wounded, of whom 16 had been hospitalised.
Operation of the city's metro transport system was disrupted because a Russian strike had hit and damaged a train between stations, the city's military administration said.
The air attack also triggered fires in residential buildings in different parts of the city, authorities said.
Trump tells German leader D-Day ‘was not a pleasant day for you’
05:37
,
Arpan Rai
A meeting between president Donald Trump and German chancellor Friedrich Merz took an awkward turn yesterday when he suggested that Germans might not view the anniversary of D-Day — commemorating the US-led invasion of Europe that was the beginning of the end for the Nazis — in a favorable light.
Sitting in the Oval Office, Mr Merz and Mr Trump were discussing the death toll from Russia’s three-year-old war against Ukraine, the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the end of the Second World War, when the German leader noted that tomorrow marks the 81st anniversary of Operation Overlord, the allied amphibious assault on Adolf Hitler’s European stranglehold that began with American, British, Canadian and Free French troops storming the beaches of Normandy.
Merz says Trump agrees with him on the war
05:21
,
Arpan Rai
German Chancellor Freidrich Merz stressed that Donald Trump agreed with him on the war in Ukraine when asked for his response to the US president’s comments.
He pointed to Mr Trump as the "key person in the world" who would be able to stop the bloodshed.
But Mr Merz also emphasised that Germany "was on the side of Ukraine" and that Kyiv was only attacking military targets, not Russian civilians.
"We are trying to get them stronger," Mr Merz said of Ukraine.
IAEA team at Zaporizhzhia says it heard repeated rounds of gunfire
05:15
,
Arpan Rai
International monitors at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine heard repeated rounds of gunfire that appeared to be aimed at drones reportedly attacking the site's training centre, the UN's nuclear watchdog said yesterday.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest nuclear facility with six reactors, in the early weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side has since routinely accused the other of attacking the plant and posing a threat to nuclear safety.
Monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported hearing at least five explosions between 11.30am and 13.45pm local time, each preceded by gunfire, an IAEA statement said.
The statement gave no indication of the origin of the drones and said there were no reports of any damage to the centre.
"Drones flying close to nuclear power plants could threaten their safety and security, with potentially serious consequences," IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said.
"As I have stated repeatedly during the war, such incidents must stop immediately."
Nuclear chief warns of danger as gunfire targeted at drones over power plant
05:09
,
Arpan Rai
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that drones flying near nuclear power plants are a danger, after international monitors at the Russian-held Zaporizhia plant in Ukraine heard repeated gunfire.
The gunfire appeared to be aimed at drones reportedly attacking the site's training centre, the UN nuclear watchdog said.
The plant's Russian management had earlier said Ukrainian drones had landed on the roof of the training centre in "yet another attack" on the facility.
"Drones flying close to nuclear power plants could threaten their safety and security, with potentially serious consequences," IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.
"As I have stated repeatedly during the war, such incidents must stop immediately."
The statement said it was the fourth time this year that the training centre, just outside the site perimeter, was reportedly targeted by drones.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest nuclear facility with six reactors, in the early weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
With all its reactors in shut down mode, the plant produces no electricity. Before the war, it generated one-fifth of Ukraine's electricity.
Four killed in Russian air attack on city, officials in Kyiv say
04:57
,
Arpan Rai
At least four people were killed in an overnight Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The toll was revised up from the previous figure of one dead.
Russia mounted an intense and sustained barrage of Kyiv overnight, with missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital where there was a succession of large explosions.
By daybreak today, authorities in Kyiv reported that one person was killed and 20 people had been wounded, of whom 16 had been hospitalised.
Operation of the city's metro transport system was disrupted because a Russian strike had hit and damaged a train between stations, the city's military administration said.
The air attack also triggered fires in residential buildings in different parts of the city, authorities said.
Trump secretly admired 'badass' Ukrainian drone attack - reports
04:41
,
Arpan Rai
Donald Trump was reportedly left marveling at the ingenuity of Kyiv’s Operation Spider Web, which damaged more than Russian 40 war planes.
According to Axios, Mr Trump has privately described it as “strong” and “badass.”
One of the US president’s advisers likened the audacious move to “a chihuahua inflicting some real damage on a much bigger dog."
Andrew Feinberg has a full-write up of that story below.
Kyiv under major drone attack after Putin threatened response to Ukrainian strikes in Russia
04:30
,
Arpan Rai
Kyiv has been bombarded with drones shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to respond to a massive Ukrainian attack in Russia.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported on Telegram that Russia had launched ballistic missiles and drones into the war-torn country early on Friday, per CNN.
A Telegram post from the air force warned, “Several Tu-95MS strategic bombers are in the air. They allegedly launched cruise missiles!”
CNN reported that Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv City Military Administration, said that there were reports of fires in buildings across Kyiv, and that a high-rise in the Solomyansky district was damaged.
Rachel Dobkin reports from New York:
Kremlin vows to retaliate for attacks on planes and bridges
04:26
,
Arpan Rai
Russia will respond to Ukraine's latest attacks as and when its military sees fit, the Kremlin said yesterday, accusing Kyiv of state terrorism.
Ukraine used drones to strike Russian heavy bomber planes at air bases in Siberia and the far north at the weekend, and Russia also accused it of blowing up rail bridges in the south of the country, killing seven people.
US president Donald Trump downplayed prospects for an immediate peace between the countries.
Mr Trump said that during a more than two-hour-long call with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Wednesday he urged him to refrain, but fully expected Moscow to strike back.
"It's probably not going to be pretty. I don't like it," said Mr Trump, who described what he called "great hatred" between Mr Putin and Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Kremlin confirmed that Mr Putin had told Mr Trump that Moscow was obliged to retaliate.
Trump says he's better off letting Ukraine and Russia ‘fight for a while’
04:01
,
Arpan Rai
US president Donald Trump has said it is better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” and then “pull them apart” as he met with German chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House yesterday.
The German leader, a key ally of Kyiv, urged the American president to increase pressure on Russia.
However, Mr Trump casted doubts of successful peace talks and said, “sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart”.
He also said that he told Vladimir Putin that the two nations at war, was like “two young children fighting like crazy in a park” during his one hour and 15 minute long phone call on Wednesday.
