Zelensky in disarray as Russia strikes Kyiv, kills 7 persons

Putin’s troops struck the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other cities in the country on Monday rush hour.

This came after the Russian president said there was no need for further massive strikes

According to AFP, “Russia attacked central Kyiv during Monday morning’s rush hour with drones and shelled other cities around the country, the second time in a week it has unleashed strikes across Ukraine.

“Local authorities raised the number of dead in the afternoon to at least seven, victims of strikes in the capital and the northeastern region of Sumy. Many areas were left without power after several Russian strikes targeted key infrastructure.

“All night and all morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app.

The United States and United Nations had condemned the attacks, while the EU said they would only reinforce its support for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said that a fourth person had died in the capital Kyiv, following the strikes.

Earlier, the city mayor Vitali Klitschko said that three people, including a pregnant woman, were killed when a “kamikaze” drone hit a brick residential building on the edge of the central Shevchenkivskyi district. Several others were taken to hospital, he added.

An AFP reporter saw one of the drones crash into a building in the Ukrainian capital as two kneeling policemen tried to shoot it down with their service weapons.

Shortly after air raid sirens sounded, several explosions were heard before 7 a.m. local time (0600 CET) and again after 8:00 am (7:00 CEST). Witnesses posted videos of drones buzzing across bright morning skies over Kyiv and of what sounded like gunshots of people trying to shoot them down.

In the Sumy region, regional governor Dmytro Zhivitsky said at least three people had been killed and nine injured after “three Russian rockets hit civilian infrastructure.”

A week ago, Russian bombings on a scale not seen for months hit Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, killing at least 19 people and injuring 105 others, and causing an international outcry.