KYIV (Reuters) -A Russian overnight drone attack on Ukraine’s capital injured at least 11 people, including two children, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Sunday for a real ceasefire lasting at least a month in the more than three-year-old war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week declared a three-day ceasefire for May 8-10 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two, a move appeared aimed at signalling that Russia is still interested in peace.
Zelenskiy reiterated his calls for a longer halt in the fighting that began when Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“The Russians are calling for a ceasefire … while striking Ukraine every single day. This is top-level cynicism: just this week alone, Russia has used over 1,180 attack drones, 1,360 guided aerial bombs, and 10 missiles of various types against Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said on the X social media platform.
“If there’s a ceasefire – then not for their holidays, but for every day,” he added.
Falling debris from destroyed drones started fires at residential buildings in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on social media.
Ukraine’s emergency service said on the Telegram messaging app that 76 firefighters were involved in putting out the overnight fires in the city, which also included a small blaze in the central Shevchenkivskyi district.
It posted photos of firefighters battling large blazes at night at what appeared to be a residential building.
The emergency service also said several cars across the city were set alight by falling drone debris.
Reuters’ witnesses heard several explosions in what sounded like air defence systems in operation.
The Ukrainian military said its air defence units shot down 69 of 165 drones launched by Russia overnight.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow about the attack.
In addition to Kyiv, drones attacked Cherkasy in central Ukraine, where according to national television 15 of the 22 drones targeting the city were shot down. Emergency services said one person had been injured, with damage to residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.
“The regional centre was hit the hardest. Residential infrastructure, furniture factory warehouses, a trading centre and garden buildings were damaged,” Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war that began in February 2022.
(Reporting by Valentyn Ogirenko, Christian Lowe, Pavel Polityuk and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Toby Chopra and Helen Popper)
