A Russian missile and drone attack across Ukraine kills 3 in the capital Kyiv

KYIV Ukraine AP Russia bombarded six regions of Ukraine in one of its largest aerial attacks of the three-year war Ukrainian executives mentioned Friday The nighttime assault lasted for hours and killed three emergency responders in the capital Kyiv according to bureaucrats The barrage included drones and ballistic and cruise missiles Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat revealed Ukrainian forces declared they shot down about of the cruise missiles and up to of the drones The latest Russian attack came hours after U S President Donald Trump disclosed it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia fight for a while before pulling them apart and pursuing peace Trump s comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on latest peace efforts Ukrainian cities have come under regular bombardment since Russia invaded its neighbor in February The attacks have killed more than civilians according to the United Nations Russia doesn t change its stripes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Zelenskyy as well as the Ukrainian Interior Ministry and the general prosecutor s office declared three crisis workers were killed in Kyiv while responding to the Russian strikes They were working under fire to help people the Interior Ministry reported in a comment The war has continued unabated even as a U S -led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine The negotiations delivered no key breakthroughs however and the sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting Ukraine has offered an unconditional -day ceasefire and a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn t budged from its demands The Kremlin continues efforts to falsely portray Russia as willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine despite Russia s repeated refusal to offer any concessions the Institute for the Examination of War a Washington-based think tank noted late Thursday Putin announced in a phone call with Trump earlier this week that he would respond to Ukraine s daring long-range attack on Russian air bases on Sunday Russia s Defense Ministry claimed it had aimed at Ukrainian military targets with long-range precision weapons and successfully struck arms depots drone factories and repair facilities among other targets Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha explained the attacks demonstrated key differences between Russia and Ukraine The difference is that Ukraine hits legitimate military targets such as aircraft equipped to bomb our children Russia targets residential areas civilians and critical infrastructure Sybiha wrote on X Putting Ukraine and Russia on equal footing is unacceptable Russia also reports drone attacks In Russia air defenses shot down Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital early Friday Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported Flights at Moscow airports were temporarily suspended during the night as a precaution Ukrainian drones also targeted three other regions of Russia functionaries explained damaging apartment buildings and industrial plants Three people were injured personnel stated Russia s Defense Ministry commented that air defenses downed Ukrainian drones over regions early Friday It added that three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea Ukraine struck airfields and other military targets in Russia such as fuel storage tanks and journey hubs the Ukrainian General Staff declared Also a locomotive derailed early Friday in the Belgorod region after the track was blown up Belgorod Gov Vyacheslav Gladkov commented Russia has in recent months accused Ukraine of sabotaging the rail organization Ukrainian air defenses are strained In Kyiv multiple explosions were heard for hours as falling drone debris sparked fires across several districts mentioned Tymur Tkachenko head of the Kyiv City Administration He urged people to seek shelter Fourteen-year-old Kyiv resident Vitalina Vasylchenko sheltered in a parking garage with her -year-old sister and their mother after an explosion blew one of their windows off its hinges I heard a buzzing sound then my dad ran to me and covered me with his hand then there was a very loud explosion she reported My whole life flashed before my eyes I already thought that was it I started having a panic attack I m shocked that I m alive Ukraine s human rights chief Dmytro Lubinets called for a strong international response to Russia s latest overnight attack saying the assault violated basic human rights Russia is acting like a terrorist systematically targeting civilian infrastructure Lubinets wrote on Telegram The world must respond clearly and take concrete actions including condemning the aggressor s actions Several districts of Kyiv are hit Agents revealed damage in several districts in Kyiv and rescue workers responded to damage and fires at multiple locations In Solomyanskyi district a fire broke out on the th floor of a -story residential building Emergency services evacuated three people from the apartment The attack caused a blackout in chosen areas and more than households on Kyiv s eastern bank were without power the Kyiv City Administration announced Elsewhere people were injured by an aerial attack on the western city of Ternopil regional governor Viacheslav Nehoda noted The strike damaged industrial and infrastructure facilities left parts of the city without electricity and disrupted water supplies Three people were also injured in Ukraine s central Poltava region Russia also targeted the western Lviv and Khmelnytskyi regions and the northern Chernihiv region Follow AP s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https apnews com hub russia-ukraine Source