Ukraine’s capital region was struck by Iranian-made kamikaze drones early Thursday, officials said, sending rescue workers rushing to the scene as residents awoke to air raid sirens for the fourth consecutive morning following Russia’s major assault across the country earlier this week.
Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said the strike occurred in the area around the capital. It wasn’t yet clear if there were any casualties.
Deputy head of the presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram that “critical infrastructure facilities” in the area were hit, without offering any details on which ones.
In the southern city of Mykolaiv, overnight shelling destroyed a five-story apartment building as fighting continued along Ukraine’s southern front. Mykolaiv regional governor Vitali Kim said that an 11-year-old boy was rescued from under the rubble, where he had spent six hours, and rescuers on Thursday morning were searching for seven more people, Kim said. He said that the building was hit by an S-300 missile which is ordinarily used for targeting military aircraft, but Russians have apparently been increasingly using them for unprecise ground strikes.
Early morning attacks on Ukraine’s southern front have become a daily occurrence in Russia’s war as Kyiv’s forces push a counteroffensive aimed at recapturing territory occupied by Moscow.
Attacks on Kyiv had become rare before the capital city was hit at least four times during Monday’s massive strikes, which killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 100 across the country.
Western leaders this week pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine, including air defense systems and weapons Kyiv has said are critical to defeating the invading Russian forces.
Britain said Thursday that it will provide missiles for advanced NASAM anti-aircraft systems that the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine in coming weeks. It’s also sending hundreds of additional aerial drones for information gathering and logistics support, plus 18 more howitzer artillery guns.
U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that “these weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attacks and strengthen their overall missile defense alongside the U.S. NASAMS.”
The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks.
The offer comes as NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels, aiming to help bolster Ukraine’s aerial defenses after Monday’s widespread Russian assault.
Ukraine’s military said this week that its current air defenses have shot down dozens of incoming Russian missiles and Shahed-136 drones, the so-called kamikaze drones that have played an increasingly deadly role in the war.
AFP from Moscow adds: Moscow believes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will "officially" offer at an upcoming meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Kazakhstan to mediate negotiations with Ukraine, a Kremlin aide said Wednesday.
"The Turks are offering their mediation. If any talks take place, then most likely they will be on their territory: in Istanbul or Ankara," Kremlin foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow.
He added that "Erdogan will probably propose something officially" during talks with Putin in the Kazakh capital Astana on Thursday.
NATO member Turkey, which has stayed neutral throughout the conflict in Ukraine, has good relations with its two Black Sea neighbours -- Russia and Ukraine, and has refrained from joining Western sanctions on Moscow.
"Turkey on principle does not join the illegal sanctions of the West. And this position of Turkey gives an additional impetus for the expansion of trade and economic cooperation," Ushakov said.
Turkey has twice hosted talks between Moscow and Kyiv, including a March in-person meeting of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, the first high-level talks to take place after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.
However, peace negotiations have since stalled and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will not hold any talks with Putin after the Kremlin claimed to have annexed four territories of Ukraine.
Asked about Zelensky's pledge, Ushakov told reporters: "I would like to tell him: never say never".
Turkey and the United Nations had brokered a landmark deal with Moscow and Kyiv that designated three ports for Ukraine to send much-needed grain supplies through a Russian blockade.
But Russia has criticised the deal, complaining its own exports had suffered and claiming without evidence that most deliveries were arriving to Europe, not in poor countries where grain was needed most.
Turkey also played a key role in one of the largest prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine since the start of Moscow's military campaign, in which over 200 prisoners were released.
Erdogan is keen to boost trade with Moscow as he tries to stabilise the battered Turkish economy in the run up to elections next June.
Ahead of their meeting, Putin proposed the creation of an energy hub in Turkey after several leaks were discovered on the Nord Stream gas pipelines to Europe.
Russia could "move to the Black Sea region... its main route for the supply of fuel and gas to Europe through Turkey, creating the largest gas hub in Turkey", Putin said at an energy forum in Moscow.
