RUSSIA hammered Kyiv in a major drone and missile attack overnight into Thursday morning, killing at least 17 civilians and injuring scores more in what Moscow described as retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities that have caused fuel shortages and put pressure on President Vladimir Putin. Loud explosions shook the Ukrainian capital for hours during the night, with many people sheltering at subway stations after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other authorities issued the first warnings of an incoming attack.

 

Emergency crews were still digging through the rubble of collapsed and charred apartment buildings in search of victims as dawn broke. Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that the deadly bombardment was in response to Ukraine’s long-range strikes on its civilian infrastructure. Ukraine’s increasingly frequent and large-scale attacks - described by Zelenskyy as a 40-day blitz - have especially targeted oil refineries, causing a fuel crisis that has frustrated Russians, more than four years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour. The attack killed 17 people in Kyiv and injured more than 90 others, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.