Russia launched its biggest air assault on Ukraine since the beginning of the war, setting fire to the main Ukrainian Government building in Kyiv and killing three people, including a baby whose body was pulled from the rubble, Ukrainian officials reported on Sunday.
“For the first time, the government building has been damaged by enemy strikes — the roof and upper floors,” said Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in a statement on Telegram. She confirmed that rescue teams were battling the blaze.
Eyewitnesses described the upper floors engulfed in flames with thick smoke rising shortly after sunrise.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia launched 805 drones and 13 missiles overnight. Ukrainian defenses shot down 751 drones and four missiles — marking the largest number of drones deployed by Russia since the war began in February 2022.
In Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, a baby’s body was recovered from a destroyed residential building. Another young woman also died, while 18 people were injured in the early-morning strikes, officials said.
Moscow has not commented on the attacks and continues to deny deliberately targeting civilians, though thousands have been killed since the start of the invasion.
Prime Minister Svyrydenko urged the international community to respond and called for more weapons for Ukraine:
“We will rebuild the homes, but lives cannot be restored. The enemy is terrorizing and killing our people every day.”
Strikes were also reported in Kremenchuk, Kryvyi Rih, and Odesa. Meanwhile, with Russia increasing attacks in western Ukraine, Poland activated its fighter jets to ensure security, the Polish military command confirmed.
