Russia-Ukraine war: Attacks escalate with fresh strikes in Kyiv; 2 civilians killed
Russia’s overnight strikes on Kyiv province killed two people on Monday after air raid alerts were issued across the country, Ukrainian authorities said. One person was killed in the capital Kyiv, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration. Another victim, a man in his 70s, died in the neighbouring city of Fastiv, Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said.
“One person has been killed so far as a result of the attack. The attack is continuing,” Tkachenko said in a post on the Telegram messaging app, according to Reuters.The latest strikes come as Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine. Meanwhile, Kyiv and its allies are seeking to finalise a US-brokered plan aimed at ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.The violence follows a deadly weekend of cross-border attacks. On Sunday, two people were killed in Ukrainian drone strikes in Russia’s border regions, according to local officials. In the Belgorod region, one person died and two others, including a young child, were wounded when a drone hit a car, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Another person was killed in a drone strike on a village in the Kursk region, regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said.In Ukraine, drone strikes overnight into Sunday also wounded three people in the Kharkiv region, the country’s State Emergency Service said.The escalation comes amid intensified diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-year-old war. National security advisers from Europe and other allied countries visited Kyiv on Saturday to discuss security guarantees and economic support as part of a US-led push for peace.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said work on peace proposals could now move faster after Ukraine shared key documents with 18 national security advisers, including those related to security guarantees. He said representatives from Ukraine’s General Staff and military sector were due to meet on Monday in Paris, followed by talks among European leaders on Tuesday.Zelenskyy, who is preparing to travel to Paris, said he hoped documents on security guarantees would be finalised during the meetings. He added that the discussions with US representatives were also expected.
