Germany condemns major Russian attack on Kyiv, vows to back Ukraine
Germany's foreign ministry has condemned Russia's major attack on Kyiv in the strongest possible terms and vowed to continue supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "shows no willingness to negotiate," said the ministry in a statement, adding that continued backing for Ukraine would be the focus of next week's NATO summit.
Death toll in Kyiv rises to 17 after Russian attack, emergency services say
The death toll in Russia's massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv has risen to 17, according to Ukraine's emergency services.
Russia vows to up pressure on Kyiv after massive strike
Russia has said it would be ramping up the "pressure" on Ukraine after launching its largest ever attack on Kyiv overnight.
"Russia will continue to increase pressure on the Kyiv regime in order to achieve our set goals," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, when asked about the EU saying it would look at new sanctions on Moscow over the latest strikes.
Russia waged a drone campaign in Europe, report says
Russia likely used shadow ships to launch drones over Europe that repeatedly disrupted civilian aviation, as it monitored military sites and tested the air defenses of NATO nations, according to a report by the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank.
The report, which was shared before publication with The Associated Press, plotted 144 suspected drone sightings across Europe, including in NATO members Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the U.K., and Denmark, between 2024 and 2026.
Those sightings peaked in late 2025, forcing the temporary closure of several European airports, including in Germany, Spain and Denmark.
The IISS said the Russian campaign was designed to fall below the threshold of triggering discussions for a collective NATO response and was a “strategic failure” for Europe that exposed how the continent’s air defences are not fit to deal with the current threat.
Kyiv's Holodomor museum evacuates exhibits
In a dark hall of Kyiv's Holodomor museum, four men were carefully lifting the protective glass cases off robes, icons, books and metal agricultural tools.
The items are a memory to the millions that perished in the 1932-33 manmade famine under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, which many in Ukraine and around the world call a genocide.
But with Russia stepping up its attacks on Ukrainian cultural and historic sites, the museum is just one institution fearful it could be targeted -- and is now packing up and relocating its collections.
"As the experience of recent weeks has shown, Russia is deliberately striking sites connected to cultural heritage and cultural institutions," the museum's deputy general director, Olga Melnyk, told AFP.
Most of the pieces being relocated to "safer locations" are family heirlooms from victims of the famine, passed down through generations -- often at personal risk during the Soviet era -- Melnyk explained.
Ukraine says nearly 2,000 cultural heritage sites and 2,500 cultural institutions have been damaged since Russia invaded in 2022.
- Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv
- Zelensky asks US for licence to make Patriot missiles after strikes on Kyiv
- EU top diplomat to propose new Russia sanctions over Kyiv strikes
EU top diplomat to propose new Russia sanctions over Kyiv strikes
EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said she will propose new sanctions on "entities supporting Russia's military-industrial complex" in response to Russia's massive attack on Kyiv.
"We keep raising the cost until Russia understands it cannot win," Kallas wrote on X, adding EU staff in Kyiv were accounted for after the deadly barrage that killed at least 13 people and wounded dozens.
Zelensky asks US for licence to make Patriot missiles after strikes on Kyiv
President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the United States on Thursday for licences to manufacture Patriot air defence missiles,
Air defence supplies for Ukraine are "an absolute and critical priority" said Zelensky on X. "It is especially important that we move forward with implementing our agreements on the production of anti-ballistic capabilities. We also very much count on a decision by the United States regarding licenses for Patriots and other forms of cooperation. These are the kinds of steps that can stop this war and prevent attacks like this."
Kyiv residents take to shelters as Russia launches 'several waves of missiles'
Reporting from Kyiv, FRANCE 24’s Emmanuelle Chaze said residents took to “various shelters, be it basements, be it underground parking lots, and of course, underground stations, subway stations” when the first explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital early Thursday.
“There were several waves of missiles that were launched by Russia against Ukraine that you could hear even in the shelters, even underground. There's even a ceiling of a subway station that partially collapsed following an impact over ground,” said Chaze. "Several districts have been impacted and we are talking about residential buildings," she added.
Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv
Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv early Thursday, sparking fires across the Ukrainian, killing 13 people and injuring dozens, Ukrainian officials said, after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a "massive attack".
Hello and welcome to FRANCE 24's live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
