Zelenskyy cuts short South African trip after massive Russian strike on
Kyiv kills 9
[April 24, 2025]
By VASILISA STEPANENKO and SAMYA KULLAB
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday
he is cutting short his official trip to South Africa and returning home
after a major Russian strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with missiles
and drones killed at least nine people and injured more than 70.
The Russian attack on Kyiv came as weeks of peace negotiations appeared
to be coming to a head without an agreement in sight and hours after
U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy, accusing him of
prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the
Russia-occupied Crimea Peninsula as part of a possible deal.
Zelenskyy has repeated many times during the more than three-year war
that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his
country. He noted Thursday that Ukraine had agreed to a U.S. ceasefire
proposal 44 days ago, as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that
Russia’s attacks had continued.
While talks have been going on in recent weeks, Russia has hit the city
of Sumy, killing more than 30 civilians gathered to celebrate Palm
Sunday, battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with
powerful glide bombs.
Senior U.S. officials have warned that the Trump administration could
soon give up its efforts to stop the war if the two sides don't
compromise.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attack showed Russian
President Vladimir Putin is determined to press his bigger army’s
advantage on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where it
currently holds the momentum.
“Putin demonstrates through his actions, not words, that he does not
respect any peace efforts and only wants to continue the war,” Sybiha
said on X. “Weakness and concessions will not stop his terror and
aggression. Only strength and pressure will.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that since Russia’s
February 2022 full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Russian attacks haves
killed some 13,000 civilians, including 618 children.
Kyiv residents spent the night in shelters
At least 42 people were hospitalized following the attack on residential
suburbs of Kyiv, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 66 ballistic and cruise
missiles, four plane-launched air-to-surface missiles, and 145 Shahed
and decoy drones at Kyiv and four other regions of Ukraine.
Rescue workers with flashlights scoured the charred rubble of partly
collapsed homes as the blue lights of emergency vehicles lit up the dark
city streets.
At a Kyiv residential building that was almost entirely destroyed,
emergency workers removed rubble with their hands, rescuing a trapped
woman who emerged from the wreckage covered in white dust and moaning in
pain.
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Rescue workers evacuate an injured woman from the rubble of a house
destroyed by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighborhood in
Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy
Maloletka)
An elderly woman sat against a brick wall, face smeared with blood,
her eyes fixed to the ground in shock as medics tended to her
wounds.
Fires were reported in several residential buildings said Tymur
Tkachenko, the head of the city military administration.
The attack, which began around 1 a.m., hit at least five
neighborhoods in Kyiv.
Oksana Bilozir, a student, suffered a head injury in the attack.
With blood seeping from her bandaged head, she said that she heard a
loud explosion after the air alarm blared and began to grab her
things to flee to a shelter when another blast caused her home’s
walls to crumble and the lights to go off.
“I honestly don’t even know how this will all end, it’s very scary,”
said Bilozir, referring to the war against Russia’s invasion. “I
only believe that if we can stop them on the battlefield, then
that’s it. No diplomacy works here.”
The attack kept many people awake all night long as multiple loud
explosions reverberated around the city and flashes of light
punctuated the sky. Families gathered in public air raid shelters,
some of them bringing their pet cat and dog.
Zelenskyy returning from South Africa
Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that he would fly back to Kyiv
after meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Ukrainian leader had hoped to recruit further South African
support in efforts to end his country’s war with Russia, now in its
fourth year.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said
the Kyiv attack was “yet another appalling violation of
international humanitarian law.”
“Civilians must never be targets. This senseless use of force must
stop,” it said in a statement.
Anastasiia Zhuravlova, 33, a mother of two, was sheltering in a
basement after multiple blasts damaged her home. Her family was
sleeping when the first explosion shattered their windows and sent
kitchen appliances flying in the air. Shards of glass rained down on
them as they rushed to take cover in the corridor.
“After that we came to the shelter because it was scary and
dangerous at home,” she said.
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