Russia strikes Ukraine capital, kills at least 1 ahead of Zelenskyy-Trump meet

Russia launched a sustained barrage of ballistic missiles and drones against Ukraine’s capital Kyiv early on Saturday, 27 December, killing at least one person and injuring 27 others, Ukrainian authorities said, in an attack that came just a day before President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet US President Donald Trump today for talks on ending the nearly four-year war.

Explosions echoed across Kyiv from the early hours of the morning as air defences engaged incoming missiles and drones in an assault that lasted several hours. Residential buildings, power infrastructure and industrial facilities were hit across multiple districts of the city and surrounding region, officials said.

“This attack is Russia’s answer to our peace efforts,” Zelenskyy said after stopping in Canada to meet Prime Minister Mark Carney. “It clearly shows that (President Vladimir Putin) does not want peace.”

Carney announced USD 1.8 billion in economic assistance for Ukraine, aimed at unlocking additional financing from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for reconstruction. “The barbarism we saw overnight in Kyiv underscores why standing with Ukraine remains essential,” he said.

Russia’s defence ministry said it carried out a “massive strike” using long-range precision weapons from land, air and sea, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles and drones. It claimed the targets were energy facilities supporting Ukraine’s military and defence industry.

Ukrainian officials said several residential buildings were hit instead.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 519 drones and 40 missiles, with Kyiv and its energy and civilian infrastructure the primary targets. Power and heating outages were reported in several districts. Interior minister Ihor Klymenko said more than 10 residential buildings were damaged. Two children were among the wounded, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv military administration.

A fire broke out in an 18-storey apartment block in the Dnipro district, while a 24-storey residential building was hit in the Darnytsia district. Additional fires were reported in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivskyi districts. Emergency crews worked for hours to contain the blazes and rescue residents.

In the wider Kyiv region, strikes hit both industrial and residential areas. In Vyshhorod, rescuers pulled one person alive from beneath the rubble of a destroyed home.

Ukraine’s largest private energy producer DTEK said the attack caused “extensive power outages”, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity.

One body was recovered from the rubble of a damaged building, officials said. It remained unclear whether it was the man described by local resident Olena Karpenko, who said she heard his screams as he burned to death after a strike hit her building. “His scream is still in my ears. I cannot believe it,” she said.

As the Kyiv strikes unfolded, the Kremlin released footage late Saturday showing Putin in military fatigues at an unidentified command post, receiving battlefield briefings from senior commanders — a move widely seen as an attempt to project strength ahead of the Zelenskyy–Trump meeting.

Russia’s chief of the general staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov claimed Russian forces had taken full control of Myrnohrad in the Donetsk region — referred to by Moscow by its Soviet-era name, Dimitrov — as well as the city of Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia and several smaller settlements.

Ukraine did not immediately confirm the claims. Kyiv’s General Staff said Russian troops were attempting to dislodge Ukrainian forces in multiple areas, but that attacks near Myrnohrad, Huliaipole and Bilohiria had been repelled.

“If the Kyiv authorities are unwilling to resolve the matter peacefully, we will achieve all objectives of the special military operation by military means,” Putin said.

Poland scrambled fighter jets and temporarily shut airports in Lublin and Rzeszow near the Ukrainian border during the Russian assault, its armed forces command said. No violation of Polish airspace was detected, and airport operations later resumed. Officials did not explain what triggered the alert, given that the strikes were concentrated far from the border.

Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences intercepted seven Ukrainian drones overnight over Krasnodar and Adygeya, and later claimed to have shot down 147 more drones across multiple Russian regions. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 20 drones heading towards the Russian capital were intercepted, with no reported damage.

Zelenskyy said his meeting with Trump in Florida on Sunday would focus on narrowing unresolved issues, with security guarantees at the top of the agenda.

Speaking in an audio message to journalists, he said Ukraine was seeking guarantees comparable to NATO’s Article 5 commitment — where an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all — though key details would need to be settled through a bilateral agreement.

Territorial issues are expected to be the most sensitive topic, including the status of the Donetsk region and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would not recognise any occupied territory as Russian “under any circumstances”.

With AP/PTI inputs`