KYIV – Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least six people, officials said Thursday, as Moscow claimed the capture of a town that had been a key stronghold for the Ukrainian army in the east of the country.
Drones and missile strikes hit at least 27 locations in Kyiv in the early hours, city officials said.
“As of now, the services have confirmed six deaths,” including a six-year-old boy, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said in a post on Telegram.
“We have 52 wounded people, almost 30 are in hospitals. Including nine children,” he wrote.
“It’s a horrible morning in Kyiv. The brutal Russian strikes destroyed entire residential buildings and damaged schools and hospitals. Civilians are injured and killed. There are still people under the rubble,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister called Thursday for “maximum pressure” to be applied on Moscow after the latest strike by Russia killed six people in the Ukrainian capital.
US “President (Donald) Trump has been very generous and very patient with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, trying to find a solution”, Andriy Sybiga wrote on X.
Putin “does not care about any attempts to put an end to the killing. He only seeks to destroy and kill. Because the entire existence of this war criminal is based on this senseless war, which he cannot win but refuses to end. He must face justice.
Russia’s latest deadly attack on Ukraine came just days after US President Donald Trump issued a 10-day ultimatum for Moscow to halt its invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year, or face sanctions.
Russia said it had captured the town of Chasiv Yar, which had been a strategically important military hub for Ukrainian forces in the east.
The town “was liberated by Russian forces”, Russia’s defensce ministry said in a statement.
If confirmed, the capture of the town that has been the site of battles for months will mark the latest locality to fall to Russian forces, who have been making incremental but steady territorial gains for months.
The fall of the hilltop town now paves the way for Russian forces to advance on remaining civilian strongholds in the eastern Donetsk region, like the garrison city of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, important logistical bases for the Ukrainian military and home to many civilians, who have up to now not fled the fighting.
