Russia has sent 400 drones and 18 missiles in its nighttime attack on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, urging its Western allies to impose new sanctions on Moscow "more quickly", Agence France-Presse and Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Most of them were aimed at the capital Kiev. "This is clearly an escalation of terror by Russia", Zelensky said on social media.
"Sanctions must be imposed more quickly and the pressure on Russia must be strong enough so that it can really feel the consequences of its terror," he added.
Zelensky said his meetings with partners today would focus on additional funding for drone interception and air defense.
A Russian attack overnight in Kiev killed two people, local authorities said this morning, shortly before a meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, amid a diplomatic impasse on the Ukrainian issue, Agence France-Presse reported.
According to Timur Tkachenko, head of the Kiev military administration, Russian forces have targeted at least six districts of the capital. According to the same source, the hits or fragments from the intercepted shells hit residential buildings, vehicles and administrative buildings.
"Unfortunately, we have two dead. These people were killed by the Russians", Tkachenko wrote on "Telegram", after reporting 13 wounded.
The nighttime drone and missile attack on the Kiev region was "massive" and lasted "nearly ten hours", said Mykola Kalachnik, head of the regional military administration.
AFP journalists in Kiev heard powerful explosions over the city at night and saw the explosions of shells intercepted in the sky by air defenses. Dozens of residents took shelter in a metro station in the city center, where there are mattresses and camping equipment.
The previous evening, Russia launched its largest airstrike since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022, sending 728 drones and 13 missiles, almost all of which were intercepted, according to Kiev.
Amid these escalating Russian strikes and diplomatic deadlock, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet his Russian counterpart Serge Lavrov today, on the sidelines of a meeting of the heads of diplomatic departments of the countries of Southeast Asia (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced that he wanted to send "more weapons" to Kiev, mainly "defensive weapons", and the next day accused Vladimir Putin of talking "nonsense" for Ukraine, while also hinting that he was considering imposing new sanctions on Russia.