Four dead in Russian drone attack on Kyiv as Ukraine targets Russia’s air fields

Russia carried out a barrage of drone strikes across Ukraine overnight, killing at least four people and wounding 20 in the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said Friday.

"Kyiv came under another attack involving UAVs and ballistic missiles. Rescuers are responding to the aftermath at several locations across the city," the State Emergency Service of Ukraine wrote on Telegram.

Kyiv's Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said four people have been confirmed dead in the capital, and 20 wounded – 16 of whom were hospitalised.

Ukraine's general staff said it had launched what it described as a preemptive strike on Russian airfields in Saratov and Ryazan regions, in addition to fuel reservoirs, during an overnight attack on Friday.

"The Ukrainian Defence Forces launched a pre-emptive strike. On the eve of the massive enemy attack, enemy airfields and other important military facilities were hit," the Ukrainian military said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

The attack on Kyiv followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, conveyed in a phone conversation with US leader Donald Trump, that the Kremlin would hit back after Ukrainian drones destroyed several strategic bomber aircraft in attacks deep inside Russia.

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Several fires broke out in various districts as a result of the shelling, including at a residential building, a civil infrastructure facility and a metal hangar.

The shelling damaged train tracks in the Kyiv region, with Ukraine's national railway operator warning of 90-minute delays.

Several strikes also hit western Ukraine's city of Lutsk and Ternopil region.

Ukraine's air defence units downed 406 out of 452 Russian drones and missiles during an overnight attack on Friday on the capital Kyiv and other regions, the air force said.

"Today, the enemy carried out the most massive air attack on our region to date. There are multiple strikes," Ternopil's regional military administration chief Vyacheslav Negoda said.

"We have begun extinguishing fires and assessing the damage and other consequences."

The shelling in Lutsk wounded five people.

"We also have numerous broken windows in private homes, several educational institutions, and one damaged government facility," the city's mayor Igor Polishchuk said on Telegram.

Buildings and cars were also damaged in the western city of Khmelnytsky, the region's governor said.

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Russian leader Vladimir Putin has vowed to take revenge following a recent drone attack by Kyiv on Russian soil, which destroyed billions of dollars' worth of nuclear-capable bombers.

Ukrainian spies last weekend destroyed some of Russia's strategic bomber aircraft on the ground using quadrocopter drones hidden in wooden sheds.

The Kremlin was planning an unspecified response to the Ukrainian attack on Russian air bases, Trump said after a telephone conversation with Putin on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian strikes overnight on Russia wounded three people in the western Tula region.

Russian air defence forces shot down a drone heading for Moscow, the capital's mayor said.

"In total, an attempted attack by ten enemy drones targeting Moscow has been successfully repelled," Mayor Sergei Sobianin said.

Putin appeared to rule out a ceasefire or any direct talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Ukrainian leader said on Wednesday that Moscow had handed Kyiv an "ultimatum", demanding Ukraine fully pull out of four regions Russia claims to have annexed but does not fully control.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)