VLADIMIR Putin has launched another merciless drone attack on Kyiv – killing six and injuring dozens.
Hundreds of devices swarmed Ukraine’s capital in the early hours of this morning, blasting apartment buildings and setting the city alight.
The sound of explosions boomed across the city and lit up thesky as at least 35 were injured in another heinous attack.
The assault has been described as the biggest on Kyiv in almost three weeks – targeting civilian buildings and turning streets into rubble.
Most recent Russian aerial campaigns have aimed at electricity infrastructure around the country ahead of the bitter winter months.
Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the overnight rampage as “vile and calculated”.
He said some 430 drones and 18 missiles struck a number of high-rise buildings, causing widespread devastation.
He added: “This was a deliberately calculated attack aimed at causing maximum harm to people and civilian infrastructure”.
Meanwhile, officials said homes in “practically every district” came under attack.
The city military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, warned residents to take shelter just after midnight on Thursday night.
In a post on Telegram, he wrote: “It’s loud in Kyiv”.
Kyiv residents recalled the horrors – describing “collapsed” buildings, neighbours “screaming” and sheer panic as Vlad’s forces unleashed hell on their homes.
Mariia Kalchenko said it was a miracle she survived after her building was struck.
She said: “I didn’t hear anything, I just realised that my hair was on fire.
“I turned around and saw that there was no wall, and there was a neighbours apartment, the neighbour was screaming, there was no door, and the flames were going from the front door into the apartment.”
Oleh Hudyma, 59, said he was heading to a bomb shelter when he heard the force of the attack.
He said: “I got up, got dressed, went out, and there was an explosion. I couldn’t hear the (drone) engine running, just an explosion, flames, everything flew, he said.
“I was in the kitchen and just fell to the floor.”
Meanwhile, Iryna Synyavska, 62, said three people were killed in two apartments next to hers.
She said: “My neighbour and his father were killed by the ceiling that collapsed. In the next door (apartment), an elderly woman lived there, she was over 80, Synyavska said. Her daughter was visiting her.
“Her body was only just recovered because the walls fell down.”
Eight of the capital’s 10 districts were reportedly struck, including the Azerbaijani Embassy, which was damaged by debris from an Iskander missile.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev slammed the events as unacceptable, considering the country is a key transport corridor for Russian trade with Iran and other partners in the Middle East.
In the Odesa region, Russian drones struck a busy street on market day in Chornomorsk, killing two people and wounding 11 others, including a 19-month-old girl, regional military administration chief Oleh Kiper said.
According to Zelensky, tonight’s aerial assault, which also targeted Odesa in the south and Kharkiv in the northeast, saw drones and missiles smash into high-rise apartment blocks.
In a post on Telegram, he described the attack as intending to cause as much harm as possible to people and civilian infrastructure.
Moscow has denied targeting locals and insisted the campaign was aimed uniquely at energy facilities.
Ukraine used its American-made Patriot air defense systems to repel the attack and shot down 14 missiles, Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader has pleaded with foreign supporters to send more of the sophisticated systems.
Top European defense officials meeting in Berlin on Friday vowed to keep up their support for Ukraine. Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal joined the meeting remotely.
Meanwhile, another one of Vlad’s drones blasted a market in Chornomorsk in southern Ukraine and killed two people.
It comes as Ukraine steps up its drone campaign on Russian infrastructure.
The Sheskharis oil refinery erupted in flames after it was struck by one of Kyiv’s devices.
Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev said four people were injured in the blast, which crippled Vlad’s main oil depot and a container terminal.
In another humiliating blow, Kondratyev announced a state of emergency as oil exports were reportedly suspended.
