Russia’s air attack on Ukraine has killed at least 13 people since Friday and injured 56 civilians across the country, local officials said.
Russia fired 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles at Kiev alone, and the Ukrainian air force said it had fired a residential building.
At least 14 people have been injured in the capital. It was one of the biggest air attacks on cities since the war began.
The Air Force said it had defeated six missiles and 245 drones.
“Each such attack will make the world more certain that Moscow is the cause of extending the war,” Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky said in X.
The overnight barrage came as Russia and Ukraine were taking part in a swap of prisoners agreed after consultations between the two Turkish camps.
Describing the “difficult night,” Zelensky said there had been fire and explosions in Kiev in homes, businesses and cars that had been damaged by strikes and falling debris.
Two schools and clinics were attacked by facilities in the Kiev area.
Olha Chyrukha, a 64-year-old Kyiv resident, told Reuters:
Four people have died in the East Donetsk area. Five in the southern Odesa and the Herson region, and four in the northeastern Harkiff region.
Local authorities reported that the drone had hit Odesa’s port infrastructure on Saturday.
Houses, facilities and several flats have been damaged throughout Ukraine. More than 100 people have been evacuated, including 13 frontline children.
Commenting on the use of air weapon combinations, Timur Tokachenko, head of Kiev’s military regime, said “the enemy is simultaneously struggling with ballistic trajectories while improving its unique tactic of using drones.”
Zelensky said that only “additional sanctions targeting key sectors of the Russian economy” could urge Moscow to agree to a ceasefire.
Last week, Russia said Ukraine had launched hundreds of explosive drones in the country, including a strike through Moscow. The Russian Ministry of Defense said 485 drones had been shot down.
On Saturday, Zelensky announced that 307 Ukrainian prisoners had returned to Japan as part of a exchange agreement with the Kremlin.
On Friday, Ukraine and Russia handed over 390 soldiers and civilians in the largest prisoner exchange since Russia launched a full-scale attack in February 2022.
The two countries have agreed to exchange a total of 1,000 prisoners, with another exchange expected on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump, who has pledged but has so far failed to end the war, proposed on social media that “it could lead to something big.”
Earlier this week, Trump called with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war, and then said the Kremlin and Ukraine would “start” negotiations for a ceasefire.
However, President Putin said Russia would work with Ukraine to create a “memorandum of understanding on the possibility of a future peace agreement,” and that he failed to call for a 30-day ceasefire.
