Russia's air strikes on Kyiv continued in the second night

Russia's air strikes on Kyiv continued in the second night

kyjiw, Ukraine - in the early morning hours of Thursday, Russia started an intensive air raid on the Ukrainian capital Kyjiw. This marks the second consecutive night of violent attacks on the country, while Russia increases its bombings more than three years after the beginning of the war.

massive explosions and injured in Kyjiw

videos recorded by CNN employees show massive, fiery explosions in Kyjiw. The view in the city center was limited, and a strong smell of smoking met the air immediately afterwards. The first reports indicate that at least 11 people were injured in the attacks on Thursday, which included a large number of drones and marching sky bodies, according to the authorities of Kyjiw.

increase in air strikes and damage

The attack takes place only one night after the biggest drone attack in Russia since the beginning of his full invasion, in which 728 drones and 13 rockets were used, with at least one person died, according to Ukrainian officials. The damage on Thursday morning seemed to be considerable. Residential buildings, cars, warehouses, offices and other buildings were on flames all over the city, reported Tymur Tkachenko, head of the military administration of Kyjiw. Tkachenko asked the citizens to stay in the shelters and avoid windows and balconies, while the Ukrainian air defense systems tried to ward off the attack. "Property can be restored, but not human life," said Tkachenko.

renewed discussion about peace negotiations

In the past few weeks, Russia has significantly reinforced its air raids to Ukraine and has carried out almost nightly attacks with hundreds of drones and rockets. At the same time, progress has slowed down in peace negotiations, which causes frustration in the White House. US President Trump was directed against Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and said: "We get a lot of bullsh*t from Putin if you want to know the truth. He is always very nice, but it turns out that it is meaningless."

international reactions and responsibilities

The persistent attacks of Russia have created new urgency regarding the US obligation to defend Ukraine, while the Trump administration promised to send additional defensive weapons to Kyjiw. Russia played down sharp words during a press conference on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Kremlin said that they react to Trump's criticism of Putin "calm". Dmitry Peskov added that Trump generally uses a fairly hard style and expression and Moscow hopes to continue the dialogue with Washington.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will probably meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday as part of the Asean summit in Malaysia. After the record drone attack on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed that "there were so many attempts to achieve peace and ceasefire, but Russia rejects everything".

violations of international law

The attack on Kyjiw On Thursday follows a historical judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (Echr) on Wednesday, which found that Russia has committed serious violations of international law in Ukraine. The ECHR decided in four procedures for Russian military operations in Ukraine since 2022 and in the conflict in the east of Ukraine, which began in 2014 and comprises the shooting of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. He found that Russia has committed a pattern of human rights violations in Ukraine since the beginning of his comprehensive invasion in February 2022

The Echr also found that Russia was responsible for the shooting of the MH17 flight in 2014. Moscow repeatedly denied responsibility for the destruction of MH17, in which 298 people were killed.

cnns Anna Chernova and Sophie Tanno contributed to reporting.