KYIV: Russian forces launched a barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight, including the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, officials said.
The dead included three children in the northern region of Zhytomyr, local officials there said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United States, which has taken a softer public line on Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, since President Donald Trump took office, to speak out.
“The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,” he wrote on Telegram.
“Every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia.”
It was the largest attack of the war in terms of weapons fired, although other strikes have killed more people.
Trump on Sunday expressed deep unhappiness at the attack, saying he was “not happy with Putin”.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with him. What the hell happened to him? Right? He’s killing a lot of people. I’m not happy about that,” the US president told reporters at the airport in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington.
Upon returning to Washington, Trump posted more comments on social media, saying of Putin, “He has gone absolutely CRAZY!”
Trump also criticised Zelenskyy, posting that the Ukrainian leader “is doing his Country no favours by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop”.
