By VASILISA STEPANENKO and SAMYA KULLAB, Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia attacked two Ukrainian cities with waves of drones and missiles early Tuesday, killing three people and wounding at least 13 in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “one of the biggest” strikes in the 3-year-old war.
The attack struck Kyiv and the southern port city of Odesa. In an online statement, Zelenskyy said that Moscow’s forces fired over 315 drones, most of them Shaheds, and seven missiles overnight.
“Russian missile and Shahed strikes are louder than the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace,” Zelenskyy wrote, urging “concrete action” from the U.S. and Europe in response to the attack.
A maternity hospital and residential buildings in the southern port of Odesa were damaged in the attack, regional head Oleh Kiper said. Two people were killed and nine injured, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
Another person was killed in Kyiv’s Obolon district, regional head Tymur Tkachenko wrote on Telegram.
“Russian strikes are once again hitting not military targets but the lives of ordinary people. This once again shows the true nature of what we are dealing with,” he said.
Explosions and the buzzing of drones were heard around the city for hours.
Attacks continue despite talks but POWs swapped
The fresh attacks came a day after Moscow launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment in the war. Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating a Russian response to Kyiv’s audacious June 1 drone attack on distant Russian air bases.
Russia has been launching a record-breaking number of drones and missiles in recent days, despite both sides trading memoranda during direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2 that set out conditions for a potential ceasefire. However, the inclusion of clauses that both sides see as nonstarters make any quick deal unlikely, and a ceasefire, long sought by Kyiv, remains elusive.
The only tangible outcome of the talks has been in the exchange of prisoners of war, with a swap that began Monday for soldiers aged between 18 and 25.
Amina Ivanchenko was reunited Monday with her husband, a POW for 18 months, and she thanked Ukrainian officials for supporting her.
“My struggle was much easier thanks to them. Our country will definitely return everyone. Glory to Ukraine! Thank you!”
Anastasia Nahorna waited in the Chernyhiv region to see if her husband, who has been missing for eight months, was among those being released in the latest swap.
“This pain is more unbearable every day,” she said. “I really want to hear some news, because since the moment of his disappearance, unfortunately, there has been no information. Is he alive? or maybe in captivity? Has someone seen him?” she asked.
Anna Rodionova, the wife of another Ukrainian POW, also was waiting.
“I just want him to come back soon and for this to all be over,” she said. “We are tired of waiting, we come every exchange and he is not there.”
A similar exchange also was announced for the bodies of fallen soldiers held by both sides, although no schedule has been released. Asked to comment on the exchange of bodies with Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was unclear when it could take place and how many bodies Ukraine would hand over. He again accused Kyiv of dragging its feet on the exchange.
“There is one unarguable fact, we have had trucks with bodies standing ready for it on the border for several days,” he told reporters.
Kyiv residents seek shelter
Plumes of smoke rose in Kyiv as air defense forces worked to shoot down drones and missiles Tuesday.
Viktoriia Melnyk, 30, vented her anger at the Russians after her building in the Obolonskyi district was struck by a drone.
“I want them to leave our territory, to leave us alone, to leave our families alone,” she said. “Small children are dying. This is not normal. It’s not normal that (the world) is turning away. This is not normal for the 21st century.”
Other residents took shelter and slept in metro stations during the long attack. Nina Nosivets, 32, and her 8-month-old son, Levko, were among them.
“I just try not to think about all this, silently curled up like a mouse, wait until it all passes, the attacks. Distract the child somehow because it’s probably the hardest thing for him to bear,” she said.
Krystyna Semak, 37, said the explosions frightened her and she ran to the metro at 2 a.m., carrying a rug.
Fires broke out in at least four Kyiv districts after debris from downed drones fell onto residential buildings and warehouses, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
“I was lying in bed, as always hoping that these Shaheds would fly past me, and I heard that Shahed (that hit the house),” said Vasyl Pesenko, 25, standing in his damaged kitchen. “I thought that it would fly away, but it flew closer and closer and everything blew away.”
The attack sparked 19 fires across Ukraine, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram. “Russia must answer for every crime it commits. Until there is justice, there will be no security. For Ukraine. And for the world,” he said.
Death toll from recent attacks rises
The Russian Defense Ministry said an attack early Tuesday targeted arms plants in Kyiv, as well as military headquarters, troops locations, air bases and arms depots across Ukraine. “The goals of the strikes have been achieved, all the designated targets have been hit,” it said in a statement.
The death toll from previous Russian strikes also rose Tuesday. In Kharkiv, rescuers found a body under the rubble of a building that was hit in an attack Saturday, Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram. The discovery brought the number of casualties there to five, with five others potentially under the debris, Terekhov said.
Meanwhile, in the northern city of Sumy, a 17-year-old boy died of his injuries Tuesday after a June 3 attack, acting Mayor Artem Kobzar wrote on Telegram. It brought the number killed in the attack to six.
Airports close amid strikes on Russia
The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing 102 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The drones were downed both over regions on the border with Ukraine and deeper inside Russia, including central Moscow and Leningrad regions, according to the Defense Ministry.
Because of the drone attack, flights were temporarily restricted at multiple Russian airports, including all four in Moscow and the Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, the country’s second-largest city.
AP journalist Illia Novikov contributed.
