Russia struck Kyiv with missiles overnight while Ukraine hit a major oil refinery in Moscow with drones hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with US President Donald Trump and European leaders.
Multiple sources reported explosions in Kyiv. Authorities in the city of Sumy also reported one fatality.
“The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. Stay in safe places until the air raid alert is over!” Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a Telegram post early on Thursday.
This is the second time Kyiv has come under attack this week. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has been trying to pressure Russia to end the war that has dragged on for more than four years.
Ukrainian drones hit the Moscow Oil Refinery (MNPZ), Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, marking the second attack on the facility in a week.
Russia said on Thursday its air defense systems had intercepted and destroyed 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions overnight, while Sobyanin said around 180 drones heading for the capital had been downed.
“Air defense forces continue to repel a massive attack. Several drones managed to reach the Moscow oil refinery,” Sobyanin said on Telegram.
He added that a shopping center on the outskirts of Moscow also suffered minor damage as a result of falling drone debris.
Flights at all major Moscow airports have been temporarily suspended for safety reasons after the drone attack, Russia’s aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, said on Thursday.
Zelenskyy said he had spoken to Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, plus other leaders, on the sidelines of a G7 meeting held in France. He described it as a “coordinating conversation” to try to end the war.
On Wednesday, Trump said that Russia was losing more soldiers than Ukraine, after he suggested that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy seemed open to doing something about the war.
Putin had not discussed the possibility of a meeting with Zelenskyy during his latest phone call with Trump, the Kremlin said this week.