Ukraine-Russia war live: Child among 13 killed as Putin’s forces attack Kyiv and other cities overnight – UK Times

Russia unleashed missile and drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities overnight, killing 13 people, including a 12-year-old child, injuring several dozens and badly damaging buildings, officials said this morning.

In Kyiv, mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people, including the child, had died. Seven people were killed in Odesa and in the southeastern city of Dnipro, where Russian attacks set residential buildings ablaze, the regional governor said ⁠two people were killed.

Klitschko said 45 city ​residents ⁠were injured. The city came under another attack early on Thursday, he said, adding that a drone, flying very ⁠low, slammed into an 18-storey building.

Ukraine’s emergency services put the death ​toll ⁠in Kyiv at five.

Photos posted ‌online showed fires burning out of control and smoke billowing skyward.

Klitschko said rescue teams had rescued a mother and child from a building ‌in a central district where the ‌ground floor was badly damaged. He also said missile debris had hit the sixth floor of an apartment building in the central Podil district.

Klitschko said a large fire ⁠had broken out in a building in a district in the north of the capital and four emergency medical workers were injured, while debris had fallen in several locations.

Britain has announced a major new package of support for Ukraine, worth millions of pounds, as senior ministers engage in a series of high-level international meetings.

In Washington DC, chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed a £752m payment to Ukraine, ahead of a meeting with Yulia Svyrydenko, the Ukrainian prime minister.

The payment, part of a larger £3.36bn loan, is earmarked to procure essential military equipment, including long-range missiles, advanced air defence systems, and drones.

Ms Reeves said: “This funding will help deliver the military equipment Ukraine needs as it defends itself against Russia’s unprovoked war.

European plans to step up drone supplies to Ukraine are dragging those countries ⁠deeper into a war with Russia, the Russian defence ministry said.

The ministry said it believes governments in a number of EU countries have decided to increase the production and supply of drones to Ukraine, a ⁠move Moscow views as a ​step ⁠that is escalating the conflict.

It published a list of factories and enterprises in several European countries ⁠it alleges manufacture drones or drone components, and gave ​their ⁠addresses, including sites in Britain, ‌Germany, Spain, Italy, Israel and Poland, among others.

“The European public should not only have a clear understanding ‌of the true causes of the ‌threats to their security, but also be aware of the addresses and locations of Ukrainian and joint enterprises producing UAVs and components for ⁠Ukraine within their own countries,” it said.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, said in a subsequent post on X that the list published by the military amounted to a list of potential targets for Russia’s armed forces.

“When strikes ‌become a reality depends on what comes ​next. Sleep well, European partners!” he said.

At least two children aged five and ⁠14 have been killed and a number of ⁠enterprises ​in ⁠the area of ⁠Russia’s Black Sea ​port ⁠of Tuapse ‌were hit in Ukrainian drone ‌attacks, local governor ‌Veniamin Kondratiev said this morning.

In his post on the Telegram messaging app, he also said several ‌residential houses ​were damaged ‌in ⁠the massive ⁠drone attacks on the ‌region.

Nato allies are looking to provide Ukraine with around $60bn (£44bn) in military and security assistance in 2026, the alliance’s secretary general Mark Rutte said in a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Berlin.

The critical assistance would be delivered in addition to the €90bn (£78.2bn) loan package agreed by the European Union and would focus on priority needs, Rutte said.

“We must focus funding on the priorities – air defence, drones and extended-range ammunition. These are the big priorities,” the Nato official said.

The aid from Nato is timely as Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said the top diplomatic priority is securing allies’ help to buy and build more air defence systems.

Zelensky is also championing joint weapons production agreements, including for drones and missiles, while pushing for the European Union to move quickly on providing the promised loan.

Ukraine’s defence minister has said its military is introducing a ‌new model of operations integrating drone warfare with infantry activity, following successful operations in the south of the country.

Top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said Kyiv’s forces had regained control of nearly 50 sq km (19 sq miles) ​of its territory from Russia in March, building on its gains since the start of the year.

“A new model of warfare is being introduced, ​drone-assault units that combine aerial and ground unmanned systems with infantry into a single integrated system,” the defence ministry said in ​a brief statement on Telegram.

“This approach has already produced results in the south, where since February a large area of territory has been liberated, precisely thanks to the use of these advanced units,” he said.

Syrskyi made his assessment of recaptured territory in a separate statement on Telegram. He ​also said that amid improved spring weather, Russian forces had stepped up offensive operations along almost the entire 1,200km (775-mile) ​frontline.

Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities a short while ago, killing three people, including a 12-year-old child, injuring more than 20 and badly ⁠damaging buildings, officials said.

In Kyiv, mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people, including the child, had died. In the southeastern city of Dnipro, where Russian attacks set residential buildings ablaze, the regional governor said one ⁠person was killed.

“As result of ​the ⁠enemy attack on the capital, two people have been killed, a 12-year-old boy and a 35-year-old woman,” Klitschko ⁠wrote on Telegram. “Ten residents have been injured. Six are being treated ​in ⁠hospital.”

Tymur Tkachenko, head of ‌the capital’s military administration put the injury toll in the city at 18, including a child.

An air raid alert remained in ‌effect in both Kyiv and Dnipro more ‌than two hours after it had been imposed in the capital.

Klitschko ⁠said rescue teams had rescued a mother and child from a building in a central district where the ground floor was badly damaged.

He also said a missile had hit the sixth floor of an apartment building in the central Podil district.

Klitschko said a large fire had broken out in a building ‌in a district in the north of the capital ​and four emergency medical workers were injured, while debris ‌had fallen in several locations.

The Netherlands will spend €248m (£215m) on producing drones for Ukraine, Dutch ⁠defence minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius said.

“Drones play a crucial role on the modern ⁠battlefield. Ukrainians deploy them with ⁠incredible skill to repel the incessant Russian ⁠attacks,” she said after meeting ⁠her counterparts from Nato ‌countries and the alliance’s secretary general Mark Rutte in ‌Berlin yesterday.

“Thanks to ‌the good cooperation with Ukraine, we are learning directly ⁠from this. This also offers opportunities for our business community,” she added. The drones will be manufactured in the Netherlands and Ukraine.

Nato allies have ‌already provided over $4.5bn in military equipment ‌for Ukraine, according ⁠to data from ⁠the US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker ‌released in February.

Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with missiles in the early hours today, killing a 12-year-old child, ⁠injuring several people, including emergency crew members, and damaging buildings, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

“As a result of the enemy attack, a 12-year-old child ⁠has been killed,” Klitschko ​wrote ⁠on Telegram. “At the moment, 10 people are injured. That includes several medics.”

Klitschko ⁠said rescue teams had rescued a ​mother ⁠and child from a ‌building in a central district where the ground floor was badly damaged.

He also said ‌a missile had hit ‌the sixth floor of an apartment building in the central Podil district.

Klitschko said a large ⁠fire had broken out in a building in a district in the north of the capital and four emergency medical workers were injured, while debris had fallen in several locations.

Russian attacks also triggered major fires ‌in the southeastern city of Dnipro, ​injuring five people, regional governor Oleksandr ‌Ganzha wrote on ⁠Telegram. Pictures posted online showed buildings ablaze.

In ⁠Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the northeast, officials ‌said two ​people had been ‌injured in drone strikes.