Fresh Russian strikes kill at least four in Ukraine, set Kyiv government building ablaze

Among the targets was a government building in the capital, Kyiv, where a major fire broke out after the attack.

The State Emergency Service reported that several high-rise buildings in Kyiv were damaged.

Photos shared on social media showed firefighters battling flames on an upper floor. At least two people were killed and 18 injured in the capital, officials confirmed.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stated that the Cabinet of Ministers building, which houses Ukraine’s government, was damaged. “The roof and upper floors were damaged due to an enemy attack. Rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” she wrote on Telegram.

An AFP reporter on the scene described smoke rising from the roof as helicopters hovered overhead, dropping water to contain the blaze. Authorities had declared a nationwide air alert at 6:06 a.m. (0306 GMT).

Besides, a drone strike in the central Dnipropetrovsk region killed a 54-year-old man and injured several others, according to local officials.

Another strike in the northeastern Sumy region left one person dead and several wounded, including a nine-year-old child, regional governor Oleg Grygorov said.

In the southeast, at least 15 people were injured in Zaporizhzhia after a drone attack late Saturday, four of whom were hospitalised, regional military administrator Ivan Fedorov reported. Images he released showed residential buildings reduced to rubble.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after years of tensions that began with Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in the Donbas region.

The war has killed tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, devastated cities, and driven more than six million Ukrainians abroad, according to the UN.