At least 21 dead as Russia launches massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv

1:05 Russian missile and drone barrage hits Kyiv overnight – video At least 21 dead as Russia launches massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv More than 70 missiles fired at Ukraine capital as Russia faces fuel shortages after strikes against its oil refineries At least 21 people were killed and dozens injured overnight in Kyiv, local authorities said, in what the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, called the worst Russian attack on the capital during more than four years of air assault on Ukraine . Russia used nearly 500 drones and more than 70 missiles in the hours-long attack on Kyiv and other parts of the country in the early hours of Thursday. Loud explosions shook the capital for several hours as waves of drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles came towards it and Ukraine’s air defence attempted to shoot them down. As dawn broke, fires were burning at sites across Kyiv, with strikes or debris hitting residential buildings in several districts and a hotel on one of the central boulevards. In one location on the left bank of the Dnipro River, a large section of a nine-story apartment block was ripped open and reduced to a mound of rubble. Throughout the day, rescuers picked through the remains of the block hoping to find survivors. The death toll steadily rose during the day, and may yet climb higher, with about 70 people admitted to hospital and rescuers still searching in the ruins. View image in fullscreen Residents look out of a broken window on Thursday morning after their apartment building was hit by a Russian missile. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP Russia regularly launches combined missile and drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital and there had been speculation for some days that another massive attack was coming. Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians on Wednesday that it could happen that night. “I am asking all our people to be extra careful, take care of yourselves and your children, and use shelters, this is very important,” the president said, speaking on a visit to Dublin. Putin admits Ukrainian drone strikes are driving Russian fuel shortages Read more City authorities said more than 50,000 people took shelter in metro stations across the capital overnight, after the warnings. Some of them brought mattresses and tents to get a few hours of sleep below ground, and at some stations there was no space to be had on the platforms as hundreds of people stretched out for the night. “By now we are pretty used to noisy nights, but they are getting worse and worse, and today was the first time in all these years of war that I decided maybe it would be safer not to spend the night at home,” said Oleksandra Voloshyna, a medical student who slept in one of the central metro stations. Zelenskyy, who returned early from his trip to Ireland to visit the site of one of the attacks in Kyiv on Thursday afternoon, said that if allies had followed through on agreements to provide Ukraine with air defence missiles, the damage would not have b