Zelenskyy cuts short South African trip after massive Russian strike on Kyiv kills 9

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he is cutting short his official trip to South Africa and returning home after a major Russian strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with missiles and drones killed at least nine people and injured more than 70.

The Russian attack on Kyiv came hours after weeks of peace negotiations appeared to be coming to a head without an agreement in sight. U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy on Wednesday, accusing him of prolonging the "killing field" by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimea Peninsula as part of a possible deal.

Zelenskyy has repeated many times during the more than three-year war that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country. He noted Thursday that Ukraine had agreed to a U.S. ceasefire proposal 44 days ago, as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Russia's attacks had continued.

While talks have been going on in recent weeks, Russia has hit the city of Sumy, killing more than 30 civilians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs.

Kyiv residents spent the night in shelters

At least 42 people were hospitalized following the attack on residential suburbs of Kyiv, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

Rescue workers with flashlights scoured the charred rubble of partly collapsed homes as the blue lights of emergency vehicles lit up the dark city streets.

At a Kyiv residential building that was almost entirely destroyed, emergency workers removed rubble with their hands, rescuing a trapped woman who emerged from the wreckage covered in white dust and moaning in pain.

An elderly woman sat against a brick wall, face smeared with blood, her eyes fixed to the ground in shock as medics tended to her wounds.

Fires were reported in several residential buildings said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the city military administration.

The attack, which began around 1 a.m., hit at least five neighborhoods in Kyiv.

Oksana Bilozir, a student, suffered a head injury in the attack. With blood seeping from her bandaged head, she said that she heard a loud explosion after the air alarm blared and began to grab her things to flee to a shelter when another blast caused her home’s walls to crumble and the lights to go off.

“I honestly don’t even know how this will all end, it’s very scary,” said Bilozir, referring to the war against Russia’s invasion. “I only believe that if we can stop them on the battlefield, then that’s it. No diplomacy works here.”

The attack kept many people awake all night long as multiple loud explosions reverberated around the city and flashes of light punctuated the sky. Families gathered in public air raid shelters, some of them bringing their pet cat and dog.

At least four other regions of Ukraine came under overnight aerial attack, authorities said.

Zelenskyy returning from South Africa

Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that he would fly back to Kyiv after meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The Ukrainian leader had hoped to recruit further South African support in efforts to end his country’s war with Russia, now in its fourth year.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Kyiv attack was “yet another appalling violation of international humanitarian law.”

“Civilians must never be targets. This senseless use of force must stop,” it said in a statement.

Anastasiia Zhuravlova, 33, a mother of two, was sheltering in a basement after multiple blasts damaged her home. Her family was sleeping when the first explosion shattered their windows and sent kitchen appliances flying in the air. Shards of glass rained down on them as they rushed to take cover in the corridor.

“After that we came to the shelter because it was scary and dangerous at home,” she said.

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