Nine people dead, 60 injured after Russia launches deadly missile attack on Kyiv
Nine people have died and more than 60 others left injured after Russia bombed the capital city of Ukraine in one of its deadliest attacks.
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Russia has launched a massive attack on Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, killing nine people and leaving more than 60 injured on Thursday.
“Russia has launched a massive combined strike on Kyiv. According to preliminary data, nine people were killed, 63 injured,” Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
Six children were among those hospitalised, the service added.
Residential buildings were damaged in the strike, with emergency services searching for people under the rubble.
In light of the attack in western Ukraine, Poland deployed fighter jets to secure its airspace.
“Due to the activity of the long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, which is carrying out strikes on objects located, among others, in western Ukraine, Polish and allied aircraft have begun operating in Polish airspace,” the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command said in a statement on X.
Rescue teams were operating at 13 sites in Kyiv with climbing specialists and sniffer dogs, while 40 fires had broken out, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
“Mobile telephones are heard ringing beneath rubble. The search will continue until it become clear that they have got everyone,” it added.
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TRUMP’S OMINOUS WARNING TO UKRAINE
President Trump has issued a stark warning to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying Kyiv’s leader was in a “dire” situation and “can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country.”
Mr Trump, 78, was responding to Zelensky telling reporters that “Ukraine will not legally recognise the (Russian) occupation of Crimea” — a key part of a US-proposed peace plan under discussion at a meeting being held by Ukraine’s allies right now in London, and a condition that has long been a red line for Kyiv.
“This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion,” the president seethed on Truth Social.
“Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize 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?”
Mr Trump a decade ago criticized Mr Obama for not intervening when Russia annexed Crimea.
Kyiv has been working since 2014 to get its territory back and expel Russians from eastern Ukraine.
Mr Trump went even further, stating Russia would never have invaded Ukraine while he was in office.
“I have nothing to do with Russia, but have much to do with wanting to save, on average, five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, who are dying for no reason whatsoever,” Mr Trump said.
“The statement made by Zelensky today will do nothing but prolong the “killing field,” and nobody wants that! We are very close to a Deal, but the man with “no cards to play” should now, finally, GET IT DONE.
“I look forward to being able to help Ukraine, and Russia, get out of this Complete and Total MESS, that would have never started if I were President!”
SIGN PUTIN MAY STEP DOWN
Vladimir Putin – who has long been believed to be battling an illness – has given the clearest signal yet that he might be considering stepping down as Russia’s president.
The 72-year-old dictator made some bombshell remarks at a press conference in which he celebrated a 27-year-old paratrooper named Nursultan Mussgaleev, who is alleged to have ordered the torture of a civilian man at a checkpoint at Bucha, in Ukraine.
Mr Mussgaleev, who sat to Mr Putin’s left, is now being groomed to become a politician.
“These are the people, this is the elite, the future of the country is theirs,” said Mr Putin.
“And I am not afraid to hand over the country to such people.”
Mr Putin also took aim at Russia’s oligarchs, saying the country’s future shouldn’t depend on people who “stole” money but on people “who defend the Motherland”.
The comments have caused speculation the former KGB agent is preparing to step down after more than 20 years and five terms as Russia’s leader.
Observers have noted tremors in his hands and legs as well as slightly slurred speech during recent appearances, leading to suspicion he may have Parkinson’s disease.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has accused the Kremlin of hiding Mr Putin’s ill health, stating: “Putin will die soon and that’s a fact”.
Speaking alongside French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris, he said his enemy “fears his own society” and warned the world not to drop its guard.
Former Kremlin advisor Nikolay Petrov echoed the warnings, saying “an internal struggle for power will begin” if Mr Putin resigns or dies and it could lead to a “military-backed rise”.
“The future after Putin is unlikely to be better than the present,” he said.
US HAS ‘VERY GOOD MEETINGS’
US President Donald Trump has praised the discussions American negotiators have held with Ukraine and Russia as he prepares to release his vision for a truce.
“I will be giving you a full detail over the next three days,” Mr Trump told reporters.
“But we had very good meetings on Ukraine, Russia … We’ll see how that works.”
The Kremlin responded by warning against rushing talks over the Ukraine conflict.
“This topic is so complex, connected with a settlement, that, of course, probably it is not worth setting any rigid time frames and trying to get a settlement, a viable settlement, in a short-time frame,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV.
Ukraine’s allies will meet in London on Thursday AEST, a senior Kyiv official told AFP, as the United States pushes for a ceasefire more than three years into the Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Moscow this week, marking his fourth trip to Russia since Donald Trump took office in January.
RUSSIA SHATTERS EASTER TRUCE
Russia launched aerial attacks at Ukraine in an abrupt end to a fragile Easter truce, while President Vladimir Putin raised questions over Kyiv’s offer of a month-long halt to strikes on civilian targets.
“Military action has resumed,” Mr Putin told state TV, after Ukrainian officials reported a wave of overnight drone and artillery strikes following the partially observed 30-hour truce.
Each side had accused the other of thousands of violations of the ceasefire, which Mr Putin ordered on Saturday.
“But overall, there was a fall in such activity,” Mr Putin said, after listing alleged Ukrainian violations.
“We welcome this and are ready to look to the future.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky had welcomed the ceasefire, while warning Ukraine’s military would respond “symmetrically” to whatever Russian forces did.
Kyiv officials have accused Mr Putin of seeking a propaganda victory by proposing the truce — which came hours after Mr Trump threatened to walk away from efforts to secure peace in the three-year war if he did not see progress.
Welcoming a day without air raid alerts across the country, Mr Zelensky on Sunday proposed a follow-up that would “cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days.”
TRUMP HOPEFUL OF PEACE DEAL ‘THIS WEEK’
Donald Trump said that he hoped for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal “this week”, promising “big business with the United States” for both combatants if a truce is signed.
“Hopefully Russia amd (sic) Ukraine will make a deal this week,” President Trump posted to his Truth Social network on Sunday, without giving details of any progress in peace talks Washington has sought to push forward since he took over from Joe Biden in January.
It comes as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday accused Russia of carrying out more than 2000 violations of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Easter truce, but suggested extending a pause on aerial strikes after a day of no air raid alerts across Ukraine.
“The Russian army has violated Putin’s ceasefire more than 2000 times,” Mr Zelensky said on social media.
But he added that there had been “no air raid alerts today” and proposed “to cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days.”
CLAIMS 17 AUSSIES FOUGHT FOR UKRAINE
Russian sources claim 17 Australians have fought for Ukraine as concerns continue to grow for Melbourne man Oscar Jenkins, facing criminal charges over being a mercenary.
Latest information shared recently by pro-Kremlin channels on social networking Telegram site published figures claiming to quantify the number of foreign mercenaries’ dead bodies found in Russia’s Kursk region up until April 10.
This included 17 Australian citizens in the Armed Forces of Ukraine however the figures do not identify any of those who have been allegedly killed — the Ukrainian military forces had previously occupied part of the Kursk region.
The figures were published on online data platform Statista.
Mr Jenkins, previously a Melbourne biology teacher, will face trial in Russia’s Luhansk region and he is the latest foreign soldier fighting for Ukraine who is due to front court.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Ukrainian deputy, Oleksiy Goncharenko said he was not surprised to hear about the Australian case.
“We have seen thousands of reports, videos of executions, torture, brutal interrogations,” he told News Corp.
“This is the first time I hear about a western prisoner of war put on trial by Russia.
“Russia does not respect the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war receive hostile treatment in Russia.
“It’s great that the Australian citizen is alive, hopefully he will be exchanged soon”.
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Originally published as Nine people dead, 60 injured after Russia launches deadly missile attack on Kyiv
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