KYIV, Ukraine— Waves of Russian drone and missile attacks killed one person and wounded at least eight others in two major Ukrainian cities in the early morning hours on Tuesday, Ukraine officials said. One person was killed and four injured in the southern port city of Odesa said regional governor Oleh Kiper. A maternity hospital and residential buildings in the center of the city were also damaged in the attack.
Four people were injured in Ukraine’s capital, said Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko. Associated Press journalists heard explosions, including the buzzing of drones, in different parts of the city for hours early Tuesday.
The fresh wave of Russian attacks came hours after Moscow launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment in the three-year war. Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating a Russian response to Ukraine’s audacious June 1 drone attack on distant Russian air bases.
Plumes of smoke were visible in Kyiv as air defense forces worked to shoot down drones and missiles on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian residents took shelter and slept in metro stations during the hours-long attack. Nina Nosivets, 32, and her 8-month-old son Levko were among them.
“I just try not to think about all this, silently curled up like a mouse, wait until it all passes, the attacks. Distract the child somehow because its probably the hardest thing for him to bear,” she said.
Krystyna Semak, a 37-year-old Kyiv resident, said the explosions frightened her and she ran to the metro at 2 a.m. with her rug.
Russia has been launching a record-breaking number of drones and missiles targeting Ukraine while the two countries continue to swap prisoners of war, the only tangible outcome of recent direct peace talks held in Istanbul. A ceasefire, long sought by Kyiv, remains elusive.
In Kyiv, fires broke out in at least four districts after debris from shot down drones fell on the roofs of residential buildings and warehouses, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
Vasyl Pesenko, 25, stood in his kitchen, damaged in the attack. “I was lying in bed, as always hoping that these Shaheds (drones) would fly past me, and I heard that Shahed (that hit the house),” he said. “I thought that it would fly away but it flew closer and closer and everything blew away.”
