Russian missile attack kills three in Ukraine’s Kyiv

A Russian missile attack has killed at least three people in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and injured 15 others, the city’s mayor said.

The strikes hit early on Saturday, triggering more than a dozen explosions that reverberated across the city, witnesses told the Reuters news agency.

Residents were trapped in damaged buildings in the Shevchenkivskyi and Solomyanskyi districts, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. All 15 injured people, including two boys aged 13 and 17, were hospitalised, with one in serious condition.

Fires and damage were also reported in several other districts of the capital, including burning warehouses in Darnytskyi and debris falling on buildings in Holosiivskyi. Emergency services remain on the scene as rescue efforts continue.

Russia has stepped up its attacks on Kyiv in recent months, taking advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of air defences capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pressed allies for more support, and has been negotiating with the United States for a licence to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump said that talks were ongoing, but that Washington had not yet agreed to the proposal, and had to be “very careful about letting somebody build them”, despite initially saying earlier this month that he had agreed to give the Ukrainians a licence.

“You have to be very judicious, but you have to be very careful,” Trump said on Friday. “Now we have not agreed to that. We’re talking about it, but it’s a hard thing to give away that kind of technology. And I don’t think this would ever happen, but, you know, there’s people that you give that technology, they can someday turn on you.”

Ukraine has faced several deadly Russian air attacks this week, including a series of attacks across the country early on Thursday that killed eight people, including children.