By DPA | Posted by TOE

Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine overnight, killing at least 14 people in and around the capital, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, ahead of a key NATO summit in Ankara.

Shortly after midnight, air raid sirens and loud explosions were heard in Kiev, while warning sirens sounded across nearly all regions of the country, according to authorities and media reports.

At least 11 were killed and 60 injured in the capital, with another three killed and 16 injured in the greater Kiev region, the president said.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kiev’s military administration, wrote earlier that several high-rise buildings had been hit in the attacks. “These are residential buildings. Places where people slept, lived their normal lives,” Tkachenko said.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the injured included three children who were hospitalized.

Media reported that one apartment block partially collapsed, leaving a vast hole in the middle of the building through which rescue workers could look right through. People are feared to be trapped beneath the rubble.

Zelensky had earlier warned of a heavy Russian attack ahead of the NATO summit in Turkey, citing information from the Ukrainian intelligence services.

Zelensky, who is due to attend the summit as a guest on Tuesday, urged NATO allies in a post on X to make “strong decisions in support of our air defence, and thus the protection of ordinary people’s lives.”

NATO leaders are due to meet in the Turkish capital on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ukrainian drone assault on Russia

Ukraine, for its part, launched more than 500 drones in an attack on Russia, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday, adding that 519 unmanned aerial vehicles had been shot down.

The independent online portal Astra reported that the refinery in the major city of Yaroslavl, north of Moscow, had once again been attacked. Images circulating on social media showed clouds of smoke over the facility, it said.

There is no official information on possible damage to the oil processing plant.

According to Yaroslavl Governor Mikhail Yevrayev, air defences shot down more than 70 drones. “Two people suffered shrapnel injuries,” he wrote on Telegram, saying they were being treated in hospital. He warned of possible further attacks.

Ukraine attacked around 20 Russian regions and regions under Russian control, once again including Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, the defence ministry in Moscow reported.

On the peninsula, drone attacks killed a woman and injured two other people, wrote Moscow-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov.

In the port city of Sevastopol, energy infrastructure was hit, Moscow-installed Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said. He later wrote that the power supply for most households had been restored after switching to backup capacity.