Taoiseach condemns missile attack on Kyiv as Zelensky cuts short foreign trip to head home
by AFP, https://www.thejournal.ie/author/afp/ · TheJournal.ieLAST UPDATE | 6 mins ago
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has condemned a deadly Russian aerial attack on Kyiv as Volodymyr Zelensky returns to Ukraine.
A barrage of missiles and drones rained down on Kyiv at around 1am local time, killing nine people in the worst attack on the capital in months.
Through the night, rescue workers were poring through the rubble of destroyed buildings and tackling blazes in apartment blocks.
The Taoiseach released a statement on X this morning condemning the attack: “I condemn Russia’s latest missile and drone strikes on Kyiv that has left nine civilians dead and injured many more. The targeting of civilians has to stop. It’s time for a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine.”
Zelensky also strengthened calls for an end to aerial strikes against his country which he said must be stopped “immediately and unconditionally”.
The Ukrainian leader, who was on a trip to South Africa, announced he would return to Ukraine immediately after meeting the country’s president Cyril Ramaphosa.
“It has been 44 days since Ukraine agreed to a full ceasefire and a halt to strikes… And it has been 44 days of Russia continuing to kill our people,” Zelensky said in a post on X.
Ukraine has been battered by Russian aerial attacks through the war, but deadly strikes on Kyiv, which is better protected by air defences than other cities, are less common.
The attacks throw yet more doubt on already fraught US efforts to push Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, hours after Donald Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for refusing to accept Russia’s occupation of the Crimean peninsula as a condition for peace.
It comes as Trump claimed hours before the attack that Zelensky has been more difficult to deal with than Russian President Vladimir Putin while speaking in a press-packed Oval Office.
“I think we have a deal with Russia,” he told reporters. “I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelensky. So far, it’s been harder.”
Trump followed up with a post to social media platform Truth Social: “Nobody is asking Zelensky to recognise Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?”
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Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula in 2014 and then backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Trump attacked Zelensky’s handling of the conflict with Russia, claiming “He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov voiced his agreement today with the US President’s remarks, stating: “This completely corresponds with our understanding, which we have been saying for a long time.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is yet to respond to Zelenskyy’s offer to completely halt air attacks on civilian targets and last month rejected a US-Ukrainian call for a full and unconditional ceasefire.
Ukraine has repeatedly said it will not cede Crimea under any settlement with Moscow.
“The search for people under the rubble is underway,” the emergency services said.
Russia has launched some of its most deadly and brazen aerial strikes at Ukraine over the last month — defying Trump’s push to bring about a rapid end to the bloodshed.
A ballistic missile strike on the centre of northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 35 on 13 April.
An attack on Zelenskyy’s home town of Kryvyi Rig in early April killed at least 19 — including nine children after a missile slammed into a residential area near a children’s playground.
Separately, Russia’s defence ministry reported downing 87 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 45 over Crimea.
Additional reporting from Keith Kelly.
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