Russian attacks on Kyiv kill 7 and injure dozens, says Ukraine
Ukrainian rescuers led people to safety from burning buildings and structures in the dark. (Ukrainian Emergency Service/AP pic)
KYIV : Russian drone and missile attacks in and around Kyiv overnight killed seven people, injured dozens, sparked fires in residential areas and damaged the entrance to a metro station bomb shelter, Ukrainian officials said today.
At least six people were killed in Kyiv's busy Shevchenkivskyi district where an entire section of a residential high-rise building was destroyed, Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Four children were among 25 people wounded in the attack, he added.
'The Russians' style is unchanged – to hit where there may be people,' Tkachenko said. 'Residential buildings, exits from shelters – this is the Russian style.'
Moscow has stepped up drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in recent weeks as talks to end the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, yielded few results.
Both sides deny targeting civilians, but thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict – the vast majority of them Ukrainian. Russia has not commented on the latest attacks.
Interior minister Ihor Klymenko said people could still be under the rubble after the overnight attacks caused damage in six of the city's 10 districts.
'To be honest, it wasn't like I got scared. It was more like my life was frozen,' said a 75-year-old local resident who only gave her first name, Liudmyla. 'You're frozen, looking at all of it and thinking about how you will live.'
UK visit
Ukraine's air force said it downed 339 of 352 drones and 15 of 16 missiles launched by Russia in the attack on four Ukrainian regions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would discuss the country's defence and additional pressure on Russia to end such strikes during his visit to Britain.
Photos posted by Ukraine's state emergency service showed rescuers leading people to safety from buildings and structures on fire in the dark.
An entrance to the metro station in Kyiv's Sviatoshynskyi district was also damaged, along with an adjacent bus stop, officials said.
Kyiv's deep metro stations have been used throughout the war as some of the city's safest bomb shelters.
Kyiv Polytechnic Institute said the attack damaged its sports complex, several academic buildings and four dormitories.
In the broader Kyiv region that surrounds the Ukrainian capital, a 68-year-old woman was killed and at least eight people were injured, officials said.
Russia launched one of its deadliest attacks on Kyiv last week, when hundreds of drones killed 28 people and injured more than 150.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
17 hours ago
- Malay Mail
World Bank: 421 million living in extreme poverty globally as conflicts more than tripled since 2000
WASHINGTON, June 28 — Conflicts and related fatalities have more than tripled since the early 2000s, fuelling extreme poverty, the World Bank said yesterday. Economies in fragile and conflict-affected regions have become 'the epicentre of global poverty and food insecurity, a situation increasingly shaped by the frequency and intensity of conflict,' the bank added in a new study. This year, 421 million people get by on less than US$3 (RM12.70) a day in places hit by conflict or instability — a situation of extreme poverty — and the number is poised to hit 435 million by 2030. Global attention has been focused on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East for the past three years, said World Bank Group chief economist Indermit Gill. But 'half of the countries facing conflict or instability today have been in such conditions for 15 years or more,' he added. Currently, 39 economies are classified as facing such conditions, and 21 of them are in active conflict, the Washington-based development lender said. The list includes Ukraine, Somalia, South Sudan and the West Bank and Gaza. It also includes Iraq although not Iran. The report flagged that moves to prevent conflict can bring high returns, with timely interventions being 'far more cost-effective than responding after violence erupts.' It also said that some of these economies have advantages that could be used to reignite growth, noting that places like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo are rich in minerals key to clean tech like electric vehicles and solar panels. 'Economic stagnation — rather than growth — has been the norm in economies hit by conflict and instability over the past decade and a half,' said Ayhan Kose, World Bank Group deputy chief economist. The bank's report noted that high-intensity conflicts, which kill more than 150 per million people, are typically followed by a cumulative fall of around 20 percent in GDP per capita after five years. — AFP
Malay Mail
21 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Poverty rising, aid falling: UN summit confronts crisis of global solidarity
PARIS, June 28 — The United Nations summit on financing for development gets underway Monday in Seville under a grim cloud: multiple conflicts, humanitarian crises and the shock disengagement of the United States. Here is an overview of the challenges development aid faces, and changes in funding fortunes: Aid in general is down Official development assistance is down for the first time in six years. The amount granted by 32 wealthy countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union decreased by 7.1 per cent in real terms last year to US$212.1 billion (RM896.9 billion), according to an OECD estimate. The US remained the top contributor in 2024 with US$63.3 billion, placing them ahead of Germany with US$32.4 billion, followed by Britain (US$18 billion), Japan (US$16.8 billion) and France (US$15.4 billion). The rankings are likely to change this year after US President Donald Trump's sudden gutting of USAID, the country's main foreign development arm. That has resulted in the elimination of 83 per cent of USAID programmes, including emergency aid or healthcare access. Ukraine getting less Since Russia's invasion in 2022, Ukraine has received significant funding, partly accounted for as humanitarian or development aid. In 2023, Kyiv was the top recipient country with US$38.9 billion received from OECD members, non-OECD countries, and multilateral organisations. But in 2024, the trend was down, with aid from OECD countries alone falling 17 per cent. Africa too Africa is the region of the world that concentrates the largest portion of international aid: US$68 billion, or a quarter of the global amount for 2023. However, preliminary figures for 2024 show a decrease in OECD countries' aid to Africa (down 1 per cent) and a more pronounced decline (3 per cent) to the least developed countries — a group of about fifty nations, overwhelmingly African, considered by the UN to be the most vulnerable. Debt is rising The total external debt of the group of least developed countries has more than tripled in 15 years, according to UNCTAD, the United Nations body for integrating developing countries into the global economy. These countries now generally spend more on repaying their external debt than for their education systems. Extreme poverty spreading Extreme poverty now affects more than 800 million people, living on less than US$3 per day, according to the World Bank. After decades of progress, extreme poverty, which is primarily concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, is on the rise again. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, slower growth, indebtedness, conflicts and the effects of extreme weather are the main factors behind the increase. Worsening climate risks The poorest nations also have a growing need for funding to address climate change, as 17 of the 20 countries most vulnerable to global warming are also among the least developed. These include Chad, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Haiti. However, a significant portion of the aid intended for adaptation or combating global warming is granted to the poorest in the form of loans rather than donations, exposing them to the risk of falling into a trap of 'climate debt', according to UNCTAD. — AFP
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Malay Mail
From Hitler's spy to Britain's next spy chief: Metreweli family's espionage past emerges
LONDON, June 27 — Britain's incoming MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli is facing uncomfortable scrutiny after revelations surfaced linking her paternal grandfather to Nazi war crimes in Ukraine during World War II. Metreweli, who is set to become the first woman to lead the Secret Intelligence Service, was widely praised for her intelligence, discretion, and exemplary service record when her appointment was announced earlier this month, according to a report in Mail Online. But German archives have revealed that her grandfather, Constantine Dobrowolski, was a Nazi collaborator and local intelligence chief in the Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, known for spying and killing on behalf of Hitler's regime. 'Captain Dobrowolski is a convinced opponent of Bolshevism and, accordingly, the most hated man among the Bolsheviks,' a German military assessment stated, praising his 'excellent reconnaissance' and branding him a 'talented gang fighter'. Dobrowolski, born in 1906, defected from the Red Army in 1941 and assisted the Nazis in tracking down resistance fighters and organising the extermination of Jewish communities, according to hundreds of pages of wartime documents. Metreweli, 47, never knew her grandfather, who remained in Ukraine as her grandmother fled west with their infant son — Metreweli's father — in 1943. The family later settled in the UK, adopting the stepfather's surname, Metreweli. While these revelations have no bearing on Metreweli's personal actions or loyalties, they risk becoming ammunition for Kremlin propaganda efforts, particularly as Russia seeks to label Ukraine and its allies as neo-Nazis. Professor Beka Kobakhidze of Ilia State University in Georgia warned the story would likely be exploited: 'I can say with confidence that this will become a favourite talking point for Kremlin propagandists for years to come.' Russia's state-aligned media has already speculated on Metreweli's Ukrainian roots, attempting to conflate her heritage with Nazi sympathies — a narrative experts fear could intensify as her profile rises. The Foreign Office responded by affirming Metreweli's dedication to public service: 'Blaise Metreweli neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather... her commitment to protect the British public stems from a complex heritage marked by conflict.' Metreweli has served in senior roles across MI6, MI5, and the Foreign Office, with a career that spans high-stakes operations in Europe and the Middle East since the early 2000s. As she prepares to assume the role of 'C', the head of MI6, Metreweli's past underscores the reality that while individuals can shape their destinies, they cannot choose their lineage — a truth not lost on Britain's intelligence community.
