Sawt Falasteen - Russia pummels Kyiv, killing at least 21 and denting peace hopes

AFP journalists in the capital heard air raid sirens wailing across the city on Thursday before several hours of thunderous explosions and flashes in the sky sent Kyiv residents running to shelter in metro stations.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 675 attack drones and 56 missiles, mainly at Kyiv, adding its air defence units had downed 652 of the drones and 41 missiles.

"Everything was burning. People were screaming... people were shouting," Andriy, a Kyiv resident still wearing a nightgown and with blood stains on his shirt, told AFP near a collapsed Soviet-era residential building.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said 20 sites in the capital were damaged, including homes, a school, a veterinary clinic and other civilian infrastructure.

"Work is still ongoing in Kyiv at the site of the strike on the building –- a Russian missile strike that literally levelled a residential block, from the first to the ninth floor," he said in an evening address.

Twenty-one people including three children were killed in the attacks, Ukraine's emergency service said early Friday, updating a previously announced death toll of 16.

Seven bodies were pulled from the rubble of a single destroyed residential building -- three men, three women and a young girl, police said.

Another 45 were wounded.

- Ballistic challenge -

Russian attacks also wounded people in the southern regions of Odesa and Kherson, and in the eastern region of Kharkiv.

"These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end. It is important that partners do not remain silent about this strike," Zelensky said.

Ukraine said it shot down 94 percent of all drones and 73 percent of the missiles fired by Russia.

"The most difficult challenge is defending against ballistic missiles," he said.

A slew of Ukraine's allies, including the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, the Netherlands, Moldova and Slovakia, condemned the fatal attacks.

"By bombing civilians, Russia demonstrates less its strength than its weakness: it is running out of solutions on the military front and does not know how to end its war of aggression," French President Emmanuel Macron said.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the attacks on Kyiv showed that Russia "openly mocks" efforts to end the war.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine more than four years ago, said the wave of missiles and drones had targeted military-linked sites and energy facilities that support the Ukrainian army.

The conflict is the worst in Europe since World War II and has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more.

- Chaotic rescue scenes -

At daybreak Thursday, AFP journalists witnessed chaotic scenes as rescue workers dug through mounds of debris from a collapsed residential building.

Emergency service workers were seen hauling from the site those wounded and killed in the strikes, and residents cried as they waited for news of loved ones and neighbours.

The barrage is the latest setback for efforts to end the conflict after US President Donald Trump raised faint hopes for peace by brokering a three-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow last week.

Russia's leader Vladimir Putin also suggested the war could be winding down.

But the brief truce was marred by allegations of violations and both sides resumed attacks straight after.

Russia's army fired more than 1,500 drones at Ukraine over Wednesday and Thursday, Kyiv's air force said.

The Kremlin has poured cold water on the idea that vague comments from Putin last Saturday that the war was "heading to an end" meant Moscow would soften its position.

On Wednesday, it repeated its demand that Ukraine fully withdraw from the eastern Donbas region before a ceasefire and full-scale peace talks can take place.

Kyiv has rejected such a move as tantamount to capitulation.

Kyiv has urged Trump to discuss ending the conflict during his meetings in Beijing this week with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Russian drones on Thursday also struck a UN vehicle in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Zelensky said, accusing Moscow of having deliberately targeted it, but adding there were no casualties.

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F.Qawasmeh--SF-PST