Russia torments Kyiv with seventh day of strikes

Russian drones struck central Kyiv on Wednesday, wounding 11 people and damaging residential and university buildings as the Ukrainian capital endured a seventh consecutive day of near-round-the-clock attacks that have disrupted transport, logistics and daily life.

The daytime attack hit a downtown university while students were in class, forcing about 160 people to seek shelter, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. He criticised what he called an insufficient international response to the latest Russian escalation.

The attacks have killed dozens of civilians in Kyiv and the surrounding region, while the city has struggled to intercept waves of jet-powered drones. Loud explosions echoed through the capital as air defences targeted incoming drones.

The mounting strikes have also raised fears of a fresh Russian campaign against Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Ukraine faces a critical shortage of US-designed missile interceptors needed to counter Russian ballistic missiles.

Russia also struck power facilities in the southern Odesa region with missiles and drones on Wednesday, cutting electricity to more than 350,000 homes, according to local authorities.

In the southeastern city of Dnipro, two people were killed and eight wounded in strikes that damaged food warehouses and educational buildings, the regional governor said.

The continuing attacks have snarled transport across Kyiv, a city of several million people. Parts of its Soviet-era metro system have been suspended during air alerts, leaving residents caught in heavy traffic. Parliament was also forced underground twice on Wednesday.

Many Kyiv residents have expressed fatigue and resignation as alerts become routine. Zelenskiy later said Ukraine's alert system would be revised into two tiers for missiles and drones, allowing greater predictability.

Meanwhile, Kyiv said it had asked the International Civil Aviation Organization to discourage member states from using Russian airspace, following a warning from Zelenskiy that Ukrainian drone activity had made Russian skies dangerous for airlines.

The request came as Kyiv and Moscow continue escalating attacks on logistics and economic infrastructure in the fifth year of the war. Zelenskiy has said Ukraine would increase long-range drone strikes on Russia to 1,000 a day from around 300 currently. REUTERS