Russia hammers Ukraine with drones and missiles as Trump meets Xi in China

Thursday was the third straight day that Russia hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks following a May 9-11 ceasefire that U.S. President Donald Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to heed. Fighting continued over those 72 hours, although reportedly at a reduced intensity.

Russia appeared to be flexing its military muscle in a show of force with its latest aerial onslaughts on Ukraine. Its attacks undercut recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the more than four-year war, which began with Moscow's all-out invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, is nearing its end.

Ukrainian officials noted that the attack coincided with Trump’s trip to China for a summit. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the bombardment proved that Moscow posed a threat to the international security that Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are trying to secure.

“At the very time when leaders of the most powerful countries are meeting in Beijing, and the world hopes for peace, predictability and cooperation, Putin launched hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at the capital of Ukraine,” Sybiha wrote on X.

“Only pressure on Moscow can make him stop,” Sybiha said of Putin, adding that U.S. and Chinese leaders had sufficient leverage to compel Russia to end the war.

A Kyiv apartment block collapses

As dawn broke on a clear day in Kyiv, a scene of grim devastation came into focus in the city’s Darnytsia neighborhood. Wisps of smoke rose from the debris of the collapsed nine-story corner apartment block. Emergency workers dug under concrete slabs that had collapsed and took people away on gurneys.

Officials said all the block's 18 apartments were destroyed.

More than 30 people were wounded at the site of the blast, while emergency workers rescued 28 residents, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. At least 10 people were believed missing.

In neighboring blocks, windows had shattered from the blast wave.

Resident Lyudmila Hlushko, 78, said she heard a lot of explosions and the sound of rockets flying around 3 a.m. “Then the house shook violently and there was a loud bang, breaking the glass in my house,” she told The Associated Press.

Another local resident, Nadiia Lobanova, said “it was a terrible night.”

“We’re used to this, well, it’s impossible to get used to this, but somehow we held on,” she told AP.

Damage was recorded across six districts of the capital, according to head of Kyiv’s Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko.

Russia's biggest attacks since its full-scale invasion

The Ukrainian cities of Kremenchuk, Bila Tserkva, Kharkiv, Sumy and Odesa also were targeted in Russia's bombardment, officials said.

Twenty-eight people were wounded in Kharkiv, including three children, regional head Oleh Syniehubov said.

“We are now experiencing the largest strikes since the start of the full-scale invasion,” Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

Ukraine’s air defense forces are under severe strain, he said.

Air defenses shot down or jammed 693 Russian targets overnight, including 41 missiles and 652 drones of various types, across the country, Ukraine’s air force said .

Fifteen missiles and 23 drones scored direct hits across 24 locations, it said. Debris from downed drones fell across an additional 18 locations.

Strikes on energy infrastructure left customers in Kyiv and 11 other regions temporarily without power Thursday, Ukraine’s national grid operator Ukrenergo said.

The onslaught came just hours after a rare daytime attack on Kyiv that killed at least six people, according to Zelenskyy. Wednesday’s assault, which involved 800 drones, struck about 20 regions of Ukraine and was among the longest such attacks during the war.

Associated Press journalists Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal contributed to this report.