Trump rebukes Putin after brutal night of bombing on Ukraine

12 hours ago 3

President Zelensky cuts short a visit to South Africa after Russia launches an overnight attack on Kyiv.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Ukraine's capital is recovering from a deadly strike today after Russia attacked the country overnight with more than 200 drones and missiles, most aimed at Kyiv. At least 12 civilians were killed and more than 90 injured. The attack came as the Trump administration pushes Ukraine to accept peace terms that favor Russia. NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports from Kyiv. And a warning - this report does include the sound of explosions and descriptions of the aftermath of a missile attack.

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: We heard the first explosions just after 1 a.m. local time...

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSIONS)

KAKISSIS: ...Jolting us awake at NPR's Kyiv bureau. Ukraine's air defense was trying to shoot down the drones buzzing over our neighborhood. Several residential buildings in Kyiv were hit by Russia.

(CROSSTALK)

KAKISSIS: As smoke billowed into the night sky, rescue workers dug through the rubble. In this video by a photographer working for NPR, we can hear rescue workers trying to pry out a wounded young woman.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALARM RINGING)

KAKISSIS: Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko sent a video message from the scene.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

VITALI KLITSCHKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: "We are going through the rubble with our bare hands," he said.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KLITSCHKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: "And once again," he added with sarcasm in his voice, "this is the face of Russian peace."

(SOUNDBITE OF EQUIPMENT RUNNING)

KAKISSIS: A missile destroyed the two-story apartment building where 57-year-old Olena Khirkovska lived with her husband.

OLENA KHIRKOVSKA: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: She describes hearing an explosion, then fumbling for her glasses. The couple ran out in their bathrobes and then came a second explosion.

KHIRKOVSKA: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: "And that was it," she says. "We no longer had walls." They ran outside in their slippers. They heard their neighbors screaming, and they saw their building partly caved in.

KHIRKOVSKA: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: She said she watched the rescue workers carry out the wounded, including a man and a child. Other neighbors were dead.

(CROSSTALK)

KAKISSIS: Several other buildings were hit nearby, including the apartment where 40-year-old Maria Rumiantseva lived with her son and elderly mother.

MARIA RUMIANTSEVA: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: "Everything in our home was blown away. There's nothing left," she says. Her neighbor, Lyudmyla Pavlenko, is worried about her son. He was injured in this attack. Pavlenko says Kyiv felt much safer before President Trump started his efforts to end this war.

LYUDMYLA PAVLENKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: "Before Trump, the Russians didn't bomb us so much," she said. "When Trump started to support Russia, they started to bomb us even more." Trump issued a rare rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin after this attack. Vladimir, stop - Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. The day before Trump had lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for refusing to accept a U.S. peace proposal that would give Ukrainian territory to Russia. Zelenskyy cut short an official visit to South Africa to rush home to Kyiv. Before he left, he spoke to reporters in Pretoria.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: "Russia realizes that Ukraine is standing up and defending its rights," Zelenskyy says, "so it's putting pressure on our people and putting pressure on America."

Back in Kyiv, at the scene of Russia's latest attack, Maria Rumiantseva blamed Trump and Putin for playing with people's lives.

RUMIANTSEVA: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: She said, "I want them to feel what we are feeling now." Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kyiv.

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