Kyiv vows revenge for 12-hour bombing

Kyiv has experienced one of its worst bombardments since the start of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with at least four people killed in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as a “vile and cowardly” attack.

- Luke Harding

Russia launched nearly 600 drones and more than 40 cruise missiles in a bombardment that lasted more than 12 hours over Saturday night and into yesterday morning. The main targets were the Ukrainian capital and the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Odesa.

Ukraine’s president pointed out that the onslaught had taken place at the close of UN general assembly week in New York, during which Donald Trump had expressed support for Kyiv. Zelenskyy called on allies to stop all Russian oil imports and promised his country would “strike back”.

“This is precisely how Russia shows its true position. Moscow wants to keep fighting and killing and deserves only the harshest pressure in the world," he wrote on Telegram.

"The Kremlin benefits from continuing this war and terror as long as energy revenues flow and the shadow fleet operates." Earlier Kyiv echoed with the sound of anti-aircraft fire as waves of drones arrived in a grey dawn sky. Residents scrambled to take cover amid air raid sirens. A missile wiped out most of a street in the Petropavlivska Borshchahivka district, sheering off roofs and blowing out windows.

A falling concrete slab crushed and killed a 12-year-old girl, Oleksandra.

Classmates left flowers and toys outside her gutted house.

A neighbour, Liudmyla, described her as a happy and active girl, who did sport and took English classes.