Two killed in Kyiv as Russia, Ukraine launch air attacks on each other’s capitals

Russia and Ukraine launched more overnight air attacks on each other’s capitals on Wednesday, with two people killed as a result of the strikes on Kyiv and swarms of drones destroyed on their approach to Moscow.

Falling debris from destroyed drones sparked fires in apartments and buildings across three of Kyiv’s districts, killing two people in the busy, urban Shevchenkivskyi district, Ukraine’s emergency service said on Telegram messaging app.

Four children were among seven people who sustained injuries as a result of the drone attack on Kyiv that came just hours after Russia sent missiles to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram messaging app.

Five people were injured in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi district that sprawls along the Dnipro River, the head of Kyiv’s military administration Timur Tkachenko said on Telegram.

Moscow’s key airports remained out of operation for most of the night after Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that Russian air defence units destroyed at least 14 Ukrainian drones after 10 p.m. on Tuesday (1900 GMT), with no damage reported.

Ukraine attacked Moscow with drones for a third night and the assaults come as the Russian capital readies itself for a long holiday weekend and a May 9 parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be hosting the leaders of several nations at the parade, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, called for a May 8-10 ceasefire in the war that Moscow launched on Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the measure pointless and offered an unconditional ceasefire over at least 30 days in line with a US proposal launched in March.

Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said flights were halted at all four airports that serve Moscow for several hours overnight to ensure air safety for the third night in a row. Airports in a number of regional cities were also closed.

According to data from Rosaviatsia, Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports handled a combined 76 million passengers in 2024. That translates to just over 200,000 passengers per day.