Russia pounds Kyiv with largest drone attack

Russia pummelled Kyiv with the largest drone attack of the war, killing one person, injuring at least 23 and damaging buildings across the capital hours after US President Donald Trump spoke to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, officials said Friday.

- REUTERS

Air raid sirens, the whine of kamikaze drones and booming detonations reverberated from early evening until dawn as Russia launched what Ukraine's Air Force said was a total of 539 drones and 11 missiles.

Families huddled in underground metro stations for shelter. Acrid smoke hung over the city centre. Kyiv’s military administration chief said Friday afternoon a body had been found in the wreckage of one of the strike sites.

Outside a high-rise apartment block damaged by a drone, residents stood around surveying the scene as the cleanup job began. Some cried. Others looked on silently.

“I woke up to the sound of explosions, first the Shahed drones started buzzing, and then the explosions began,” said 40-year-old resident Maria Hilchenko.