Arab News | Russia pounds Kyiv with drones, killing 2 and wounding 23 hours before Zelensky’s UN address

KYIV: Russia hammered Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with drones in daylight attacks on Wednesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared for meetings with world leaders at the UN General Assembly.

Two people were killed and 23 were wounded in Kyiv, and palls of black smoke floated above the city following the latest in what have been daily Russian attacks that torment Ukrainian civilians. The drones set off fires and damaged buildings in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine overnight, authorities said.

Zelensky was in New York for the annual UN gathering as part of his diplomatic effort to shore up and recruit further international support for his country’s grueling 4½-year fight against Russia’s invasion. He was due to address the General Assembly later Wednesday and was also to meet with European leaders and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

Zelensky met on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump, who has shown impatience with the lack of progress in talks aimed at ending the war and the escalating aerial attacks by both sides this year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that there are “no concrete plans” for more US-brokered talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is accused by NATO officials and European governments of sabotage, espionage and other threats, is not scheduled to attend the UN gathering this year.

The Polish military said a Russian military helicopter briefly violated Poland’s airspace Wednesday on the country’s border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. It said that “the nature of the incident suggests that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defense.”

Ukraine has hit back at Russia by damaging oil refineries that are a vital pillar of the country’s economy.

Zelensky said at the start of his US visit that he had proposals to make about possible de-escalation in the war. Urgent issues for Kyiv are halting devastating Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid and ensuring Ukrainian grain can be shipped to world markets through the Black Sea despite the war.

Ukraine also needs more US-made Patriot air defense systems as a shield against Russian ballistic missiles, but Patriots are in short supply after the war in Iran began.

In Zaporizhzhia, in southeastern Ukraine, two men aged 37 and 39 were wounded by a strike that started a large fire at a shopping mall. Emergency services said the fire spread across about 6,000 square meters (1.5 acres) before coming under control.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces overnight struck Ukraine’s military-industrial and energy sector facilities, logistics centers, and sea vessels.

The ministry said its air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, as well as illegally annexed Crimea and waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.