Air strikes hit Kyiv, Ukraine sinks Russian ship

Russian strikes on Kyiv and its outskirts claimed ten lives on Monday morning, as Ukrainian drones destroyed a large Russian container ship in the Black Sea. The clash unfolded against a backdrop of a long-standing pause in US-led negotiations aimed at ending the conflict, which has been Europe's deadliest since World War II. Both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up long-range attacks on each other in recent weeks, with Moscow more than doubling its missile usage last month, according to an AFP analysis.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took to social media to call for Patriot air defence systems, Ukraine's most effective defense against Russian ballistic missile attacks. The current shortage of interceptors only seems to fuel Russia's escalating aggression, resulting in deadly strikes that claim human lives, Zelensky lamented.

More than 30 individuals were injured in the Kyiv attacks, which targeted five districts of the city. Among the buildings damaged was the Lithuanian embassy, with the Baltic nation's foreign minister sharing pictures showing a cracked door and damaged light fixture. In Kyiv's eastern Darnytsky district, the strikes damaged multiple structures and vehicles, leaving seven people dead and 14 wounded.

In the western Solomiansky district, two people lost their lives and eight others sustained injuries when a five-story residential building was struck. One additional fatality was reported in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary.

Residents in affected areas described utter devastation, with windows shattered and buildings collapsing. One 75-year-old resident expressed her despair, stating that she could barely cope with the destruction and feared for her safety in the long term. Another resident voiced her intention to abandon the city, questioning the likelihood of a safe future.

Russia's defense ministry claimed it had targeted military-industrial complex enterprises and logistics centers amid the relentless attacks Kyiv has faced nightly since the war began nearly four and a half years ago.