KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia attacked two Ukrainian cities with waves of drones and missiles early Tuesday, killing three people and wounding at least 13 in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “one of the biggest†strikes on Ukraine's capital in the 3-year-old war.
The attack struck Kyiv and the southern port city of Odesa. In an online statement, Zelenskyy said Moscow's forces fired 315 drones, most of them Shaheds, and seven missiles overnight.
“Russian missile and Shahed strikes are louder than the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace,†Zelenskyy wrote, urging “concrete action†from the U.S. and Europe in response.
A maternity hospital and residential buildings in the southern port of Odesa were damaged in the attack, regional head Oleh Kiper said. Two people were killed and nine injured, according to the regional prosecutor's office.
Another person was killed in Kyiv's Obolonskyi district, regional head Tymur Tkachenko wrote on Telegram.
“Russian strikes are once again hitting not military targets but the lives of ordinary people. This once again shows the true nature of what we are dealing with,†he said.
Explosions and the buzzing of drones were heard around the city for hours.
Attacks continue despite talks but POWs swapped
The fresh attacks came a day after Moscow at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the war. Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating Moscow's response to on distant Russian air bases.
Russia has been launching a record number of drones and missiles in recent days, despite both sides trading memoranda at direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2 that set out conditions for a potential ceasefire. However, the inclusion of clauses that make any quick deal unlikely, and a ceasefire, long sought by Kyiv, remains elusive.
The only tangible outcome of the talks has been the exchange of prisoners of war, with a for soldiers aged between 18 and 25.
A second group was exchanged Tuesday, focusing on seriously wounded and sick Ukrainian service members, Zelenskyy said on Telegram. “Exchanges must continue. We are doing everything to find and return everyone who is in captivity,†he said.
Among them were soldiers captured over three years ago in the battle for Mariupol, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on Telegram. All of those freed had severe injuries and illnesses, including amputated limbs and vision problems, it said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it also received a second group of exchanged soldiers in the deal.
Amina Ivanchenko was reunited Monday with her husband, a POW for 18 months, in the initial release. She said was grateful to Ukrainian officials for supporting her.
“My struggle was much easier thanks to them. Our country will definitely return everyone. Glory to Ukraine! Thank you!â€
Anastasia Nahorna waited in the Chernyhiv region to see if her husband, who has been missing for eight months, was among those being released in the latest swap.
“This pain is more unbearable every day,†she said. “I really want to hear some news, because since the moment of his disappearance, unfortunately, there has been no information. Is he alive? or maybe in captivity? Has someone seen him?†she asked.
Anna Rodionova, the wife of another Ukrainian POW, also was waiting.
“I just want him to come back soon and for this to all be over,†she said. “We are tired of waiting, we come every exchange and he is not there.â€
A similar exchange was announced for the bodies of fallen soldiers held by both sides, although no schedule has been released. Asked to comment on the exchange of dead, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was unclear when it could take place and how many bodies Ukraine would hand over. He again accused Kyiv of dragging its feet on the exchange.
“There is one unarguable fact, we have had trucks with bodies standing ready for it on the border for several days,†he told reporters.
Kyiv residents seek shelter
Plumes of smoke rose in Kyiv as air defense forces worked to shoot down drones and missiles Tuesday.
Viktoriia Melnyk, 30, vented her anger at the Russians after her building in the Obolonskyi district was struck by a drone.
“I want them to leave our territory, to leave us alone, to leave our families alone," she said. "Small children are dying. This is not normal. It’s not normal that (the world) is turning away. This is not normal for the 21st century.â€
Mariia Pachapynska, the 26-year-old manager at a T-shirt company in the same district, decried that her workplace was struck.
“There were no military facilities here,†she said, noting that “everything and half of me, half of my soul, burned down.â€
Seven out of 10 districts were damaged in the attack, said Maryna Kotsupii of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, adding that 16-story and 25-story residential buildings were hit.
Residents took shelter and slept in metro stations during the long attack, including Nina Nosivets, 32, and her 8-month-old son, Levko.
“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 it's probably the hardest thing for him to bear," she said.
Krystyna Semak, 37, said she was scared by the explosions and ran to the metro at 2 a.m., carrying a rug.
Fires broke out in at least four Kyiv districts after debris from downed drones fell onto residential buildings and warehouses, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
“I was lying in bed, as always hoping that these Shaheds would fly past me, and I heard that Shahed (that hit the house),†said Vasyl Pesenko, 25, standing in his damaged kitchen. “I thought that it would fly away, but it flew closer and closer and everything blew away.â€
The attack sparked 19 fires across Ukraine, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram. “Russia must answer for every crime it commits. Until there is justice, there will be no security. For Ukraine. And for the world,†he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry insisted its attack targeted arms plants in Kyiv, as well as military headquarters, troop locations, air bases and arms depots. “The goals of the strikes have been achieved, all the designated targets have been hit,†it said in a statement.
Death toll rises from recent attacks
The death toll rose Tuesday from previous Russian strikes. In Kharkiv, rescuers found a body in the rubble of a building that was hit Saturday, Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram. The discovery brought the number of dead there to five, with five others potentially under the debris, Terekhov said.
In the northern city of Sumy, a 17-year-old boy died of his injuries Tuesday after a June 3 attack, acting Mayor Artem Kobzar wrote on Telegram, bringing the number killed to six.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing 102 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow illegally annexed from Kyiv in 2014.
The drones were downed both over regions on the border and deeper inside Russia, including central Moscow and Leningrad regions, according to the Defense Ministry. Flights were temporarily restricted at multiple Russian airports, including all four in Moscow and the Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, the country’s second-largest city.
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AP journalist Illia Novikov contributed.
