Russian Strikes Damage Main Government Building In Kyiv

Russian strikes across Ukraine overnight killed at least four people and wounded dozens more, authorities announced, as officials said a government building in the capital Kyiv was on fire after the attack.

The State Emergency Service said the strikes damaged several high-rise buildings in Kyiv, posting photos on Telegram of firefighters battling a blaze on an elevated floor.

The service said at least two people had been killed and 18 had been wounded in the attack.

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Ukraine's cabinet of ministers building, the seat of the government in Kyiv, was damaged in the strike, said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

"The roof and upper floors were damaged due to an enemy attack. Rescuers are extinguishing the fire," she posted on Telegram. Reuters reported that the building had been hit for the first time in the war.

An AFP reporter saw smoke rising from the roof of the building, and helicopters were flying over the building, dropping what appeared to be buckets of water on the roof.

Ukrainian authorities had declared a nationwide air alert at 6.06 am (0306 GMT).

Russian drone attacks in Dnipropetrovsk also killed a 54-year-old man and left several others wounded, the central region's military administration said.

Another strike in the northeastern Sumy region killed one person and wounded several more, local authorities said late on Saturday.

"Following an enemy attack on the outskirts of the town of Putyvyl, one person has died, and there are people injured," including a nine-year-old child, regional military governor Oleg Grygorov said on Telegram.

A Russian drone attack on Saturday evening in Zaporizhzhia in the southeast wounded at least 15 people, four of whom were hospitalised, said Ivan Fedorov, head of the military administration in the region, which is partially occupied by Russia.

He published images of shattered residential buildings.

Peace efforts stall

The barrage came after two dozen countries, led by France and Britain, pledged Thursday to join a "reassurance" force to patrol any agreement to end the war, unleashed by Moscow's February 2022 invasion.

Kyiv says security guarantees, backed by Western troops, are crucial to any pace deal to ensure Russia does not invade again in the future.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed any Western forces in Ukraine as unacceptable and said they would be "legitimate" targets.

Efforts in recent weeks by US President Donald Trump to end the war have so far yielded little progress.

Russian forces occupy around 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory in total.

Tens of thousands have been killed in three and a half years of fighting, which has forced millions from their homes and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine in Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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