Ukraine hit by second day of large-scale Russian missile and drone strikes

Russian missiles and drones are pounding Ukraine for a second day, as almost continuous heavy attacks hit the country, with Kyiv bearing the brunt of an assault that has killed at least eight people, including a 13-year-old, and injured 44 in the capital. The overnight attacks followed heavy daylight raids with missiles and drones across the country on Wednesday, one of the longest single attacks of the war. “As of now, already five people have been reported killed in Kyiv as a result of last night’s Russian attack,” the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy , wrote in a statement on social media. “There must be a just response to all these strikes,” he added, saying he had ordered Ukraine’s armed forces to prepare options for retaliation. Damage from a Russian missile strike in Kyiv. Photograph: Anadolu/ The assault began at 3am on Thursday with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles fired by Moscow, with the sound of explosions echoing through Kyiv. Water and power supplies were disrupted in the east of the city. The scale of the Russian attacks and their intensity appeared to put paid to claims by the US president, Donald Trump, that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was close, following recent remarks by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, that the war may be approaching an end. Ukraine’s air force said the latest attack involved 56 missiles of various types and almost 700 drones. …