KYIV — A massive Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv, including a rare strike in the center of Ukraine’s capital, early on Thursday killed at least 14 people and wounded 48 others, local authorities said.

It was the first major Russian combined assault on Kyiv in weeks as United States-led peace efforts to end the war struggled to gain traction., This news data comes from:http://aichuwei.com

Russia launched 598 strike drones and decoys, and 31 missiles of different types across the country, Ukraine’s Air Force said, making it one of the war’s biggest air attacks.

Among the dead were three children, ages 2, 14 and 17, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city administration. Rescue teams were on site to pull people trapped underneath the rubble.

“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X following the attack. “We expect a response from everyone in the world who has called for peace but now more often stays silent rather than taking principled positions.”

Also on Thursday, Russia’s defense ministry said it had shot down 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, mostly in the country’s southwest. A drone attack sparked a blaze at the Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, local officials said, while a second fire was reported at the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Samara region.

Ukrainian drones have repeatedly struck refineries and other oil infrastructure in recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Russia’s war economy, causing gasoline stations in some Russian regions to run dry and prices to spike.

At least 20 locations across seven districts of Kyiv were hit. Tkachenko said nearly 100 buildings were damaged, including a shopping mall in the city center, and thousands of windows were shattered.

Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralized 563 drones and decoys and 26 missiles across the country, Kyiv’s Air Force said.

Russian strikes hit the central part of Kyiv, one of the few times Russian attacks have reached the heart of the Ukrainian capital since Moscow’s invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022. Residents cleared shattered glass and debris from damaged buildings.

Bodies pulled from rubble

Smoke billowed from the crumbled column of a five-story residential building in the Darnytskyi district. An acrid stench of burning material wafted in the air as firefighters worked to contain the blaze.

Emergency responders searched for survivors and pulled bodies from the wreckage. Crowds of residents stood nearby waiting for relatives to retrieved from the rubble. Bodies in black bags were placed to one side of the building.

At least 10 people were known to be missing by the afternoon, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said.

It was not the first time the district was targeted, residents said.

Ukraine’s national railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, reported damage to its infrastructure in the Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions, causing delays and requiring trains to use alternative routes.

Stalled diplomatic efforts

Thursday’s combined drone and missile attack is the first major one of its kind to strike Kyiv since US President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier this month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

While a diplomatic push to end the war appeared to gain momentum shortly after that meeting, few details have emerged about the next steps.

Western leaders have accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts and avoiding serious negotiations while Russian troops move deeper into Ukraine. Ukrainian military leaders conceded this week that Russian forces have broken into an eighth region of Ukraine seeking to capture more ground.

Russian drone, missile attack kills 14, injured 48 in Kyiv

Zelenskyy hopes for harsher US sanctions to cripple the Russian economy if Putin does not demonstrate seriousness about ending the war. He reiterated those demands following Thursday’s attack

“All deadlines have already been broken, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy ruined,” Zelenskyy said.