Russia attacks the main Ukrainian government headquarters in Kiev for the first time

BarcelonaFor the first time since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Moscow's missiles directly hit the main Ukrainian government headquarters in Kiev, in the center of the capital, early Sunday morning, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko reported. "For the first time, the government building—its roof and upper floors—has been damaged by an enemy attack. Rescue teams are extinguishing the fire," she wrote on Facebook. The mayor of the capital, Vitaliy Klitschko, told Telegram that it was a drone attack, and Foreign Minister Andri Sibiga warned that this "represents a serious escalation."

Specifically, the damaged building is where Ukrainian ministers meet and is located in the central Pecherskyi district, an area that Russian forces rarely attack due to the concentration of air defenses there. This morning in Kiev, a thick column of smoke could be seen rising from Maidan Square, in the heart of the capital.

Aside from the government headquarters, Russia also bombed other areas of the capital and other Ukrainian towns en masse tonight with more than 800 drones, a new record, according to emergency services and local authorities. Until now, the attack with the largest number of drones was in July. On that occasion, 740 were used. Some of the towns attacked were Odessa and Zaporizhia in the south of the country, Kremenchuk in the center, and Kryvyi Rih and Dnipropetrovsk in the east.

"We will restore the buildings, but the lost lives cannot be recovered," the prime minister lamented. In Kiev, at least two people died and seventeen others were injured, according to the latest count by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Among the dead is a baby less than one year old, whose body was recovered from beneath the rubble of a nine-story residential building after a Russian shell hit, destroying four floors and causing a fire. "Russia is deliberately attacking civilian facilities," warned the head of Kiev's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, who recommended that the population remain in shelters.

Injuries were also reported in the cities of Odessa, Kryvyi Rih, and Dnipropetrovsk, and Kremenchuk was partially without power as a result of the attacks, according to its mayor, Vitali Maletsky.

Reactions to the attack

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibiga called this Sunday for "strong" responses and increased air defenses from Western partners. "The most cynical thing is that these brutal attacks are happening when President Trump is doing everything possible to achieve peace. But instead of reciprocating these efforts and agreeing to a meeting of leaders, Putin is opting for terror," he declared. For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the massive Russian attack early this morning as a "conscious crime" aimed at "prolonging the war," and called on the United States to immediately impose new sanctions against the Kremlin and its European partners this week.

This week, French President Emmanuel Macron announced in Paris the creation of a Coalition of Volunteers, which would bring together countries willing to deploy troops on the ground in Ukraine when a ceasefire is in place. It would be a peacekeeping mission that would support the Ukrainian army to deter Russia from attacking again. "Twenty-six countries have pledged to deploy troops in Ukraine as a guarantee force, or to be present on land, sea, or air," he stated on Friday. Putin, however, rejected the proposal and already warned that any foreign force deployed in Ukraine would be "a legitimate target."