A 12-year-old girl was among four killed and at least 70 injured after a 12-hour Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine, with the capital Kyiv suffering the heaviest assault.
The air assault, which took place overnight and into Sunday, was the first major bombardment since a similar attack killed at least 21 people last month.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the “vile” bombardment that lasted more than 12 hours and involved nearly 600 drones and several dozen missiles.
News of the destruction came as Denmark’s defence ministry said that it had observed drones at several of its armed forces’ locations overnight for a second consecutive day.
Nato has said that it would upgrade its mission in the Baltic Sea following reports of drone incursions into Denmark.
Colonel Martin O’Donnel, a Nato spokesperson, said that “we will conduct even more enhanced vigilance with new multi-domain assets in the Baltic Sea region, which includes Denmark, under Baltic Sentry”.
He said Nato leaders had been in constant contact with Danish leaders about the recent drone incidents and that the assets would include “multiple intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms and at least one air-defence frigate.”
Separately, Germany said that following a request from Denmark, its armed forces would provide military support for the upcoming European Union summit later this week in Copenhagen
In Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said that Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Odesa regions were also hit in the renewed Russian attacks.
Zaporizhzhia’s governor Ivan Fedorov said three children – two boys, aged 11 and 12, and a nine-year-old girl, were among the 34 people injured in the region.
Ilona Kovalenko, a 38-year-old resident of a five-story building struck in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district, described being woken up by an explosion, which shattered windows.
She said that the 12-year-old girl, named Oleksandra, who died in the attack, was her neighbour’s daughter.
“A neighbour kept knocking on our door. She was completely covered in blood and shouting, ‘help, save my daughter,'” said Ms Kovalenko, who fled the building with her grandmother after the strike.
“Sadly, she died on the spot,” Ms Kovalenko added. “We are in shock, to be honest.”
Mr Zelensky vowed that Ukraine “will strike back” and called on the US and Europe to curb their Russian oil and gas imports.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha responded to the attack, saying: “We must maximise the cost of further escalation for Russia”.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that it had carried out a “massive” attack on Ukraine using long-range air and sea-based weapons and drones to target military infrastructure, including airfields.
The assault also triggered military responses in neighbouring Poland, where fighter jets were deployed early on Sunday as Russia struck targets in western Ukraine, according to the Polish armed forces.
Reporting contributed by The Associated Press and Reuters.
