Children among 12 killed after Russia launches largest aerial strike of Ukraine war
On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchThree children were among at least 12 people killed in Ukraine after Russian forces launched the largest aerial bombardment since the war started in February 2022. Russia launched 367 drones and missiles in Sunday’s onslaught, striking more than 30 cities and villages, according to Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force.Sounds of explosions boomed throughout the night in Kyiv and families in a village near the capital returned to find their homes burned down on Sunday. In the Zhytomyr region, west of the city, the emergency service said three children were killed, aged eight, 12 and 17.Following the strikes, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the “silence of America” was encouraging Russian president Vladimir Putin as he called for Western partners to ramp up sanctions on Moscow.open image in galleryVolodymyr Zelensky condemned the ‘silence of America’ following the strikes (Getty)“These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding that Sunday’s targets included Kyiv, where university dormitories were hit, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions.“Each such terrorist Russian strike is a sufficient reason for new sanctions against Russia,” he said. “Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day.”“America’s silence, the silence of others in the world, only encourages” Putin, he added.“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help.”There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the strikes.open image in galleryPeople begin clearing up houses destroyed by a Russian strike in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region (AP)The aerial attacks came hours before Russia and Ukraine completed the final stage of a major prisoner exchange, with around 1,000 people swapped each way between the two countries.Russia’s Defence Ministry said each side brought home 303 more soldiers on Sunday, after each released 307 combatants and civilians on Saturday and 390 on Friday.President Zelensky confirmed the exchange, saying on X/Twitter on Sunday that “303 Ukrainian defenders are home”.He noted that the troops returning to Ukraine were members of the “Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service”.The swap was agreed in talks held in Istanbul earlier this month – the first time the two sides met face to face for peace talks since the first months of the war.Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said the country faced a “sleepless night” as they were bombarded in the widespread aerial assault, which saw fires break out after falling drone debris hit homes and businesses.open image in galleryHomes in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, were destroyed after Russia launched the largest aerial strikes of the war (AP)At least four people were killed in the capital itself, according to the security service, while 16 were injured.The three children were killed in in Zhytomyr region, where another 12 people were injured.A further four people were killed Khmelnytskyi region, western Ukraine, with another fatality reported in the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine.In the village of Markhalivka, just outside Kyiv, devastated residents returned to find homes burned down with their pets inside. “The street looks like Bakhmut, like Mariupol, it’s just terrible,” said 76-year-old Liubov Fedorenko, comparing their village to some of Ukraine’s most devastated cities.She said she was grateful her daughter and grandchildren had not joined them for the weekend.“I was trying to persuade my daughter to come to us,” Ms Fedorenko said.“She said, ‘No, mum, I’m not coming’. And thank God she didn’t come, because the rocket hit [the house] on the side where the children’s rooms were.”Ivan Fedorenko, 80, said he regrets letting their two dogs into the house when the air raid siren went off.“They burned to death,” he said. “I want to bury them, but I’m not allowed yet.”
