Russia strikes Kyiv’s main Govt building for 1st time in war

New Delhi, Sep 7: Russia launched a massive overnight drone and missile barrage across Ukraine, hitting the country’s main government building in the capital for the first time since the start of the war, officials said.

Ukraine’s prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed that the Cabinet of Ministers building, which houses the offices of Ukraine’s main ministers, was damaged, reports BBC. “The roof and upper floors were hit, and a fire broke out due to an enemy attack,” she said.

Images posted on her Telegram channel showed the upper floors of the large grey-stone government building ablaze as cranes sprayed water to contain the flames, BBC reported.

According to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, the blaze in the Pechersk district may have been triggered by a drone intercepted over the city centre. “In a government building, a fire broke out as a result of a UAV possibly being shot down,” he wrote on Telegram. The BBC reports that this is a symbolic and shocking escalation. Until now, Russian missiles and drones had rarely penetrated central Kyiv, which is heavily protected by air defences.

Across the country, officials said at least four people were killed, including a young woman and her two-month-old baby in Kyiv’s Svyatoshynsky district, when a nine-storey residential block was struck. Around 20 others were injured, including a pregnant woman.

Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched a record number of weapons in the overnight assault, more than 800 drones and missiles. Nine missiles and 56 drones reached 37 locations, while wreckage from downed weapons fell across eight sites in the capital, reports BBC.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the barrage caused damage in multiple regions, including Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, Sumy and Chernihiv. “Such killings now, at a time when real diplomacy could have started a long time ago, are a deliberate crime and an attempt to prolong the war,” he wrote on social media, urging greater international resolve to stop the attacks. The area around the cabinet building remains sealed off behind checkpoints, as it is home to parliament, government ministries and the presidential palace.

Russia’s defence ministry said the strikes targeted Ukraine’s “military-industrial complex and transport infrastructure,” including weapons warehouses, airfields and drone launch sites. Moscow denied deliberately striking civilians.

Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska condemned the “record-breaking” wave of attacks, saying the 800 drones and missiles had targeted “peaceful cities, residential buildings and infrastructure.” She said Ukrainians were united in grief but also in resilience, reports the BBC. European leaders swiftly denounced the strikes.  The attack on the Cabinet of Ministers marks a new phase in Russia’s war against Ukraine at a time when peace talks are being encouraged.