KYIV, Apr 3:Ukraine on Friday faced nearly 500 Russian missile and drone attacks that killed at least six people, officials said, the latest in an increasing number of daytime strikes by Moscow.
Russia has been launching aerial barrages at Ukraine throughout its invasion, mostly at night, but in recent weeks it has stepped up daytime attacks.
"Terrorist Russia strikes in broad daylight deliberately -- to maximise civilian casualties and damage," Ukraine's Foreign Minister AndriySybiga said, adding that Moscow fired almost 500 drones and missiles.
Images from Ukrainian emergency services showed damaged residential buildings, with a block of flats ripped and rubble strewn on a street.
The attack killed one person and left eight wounded in the capital region of Kyiv, regional governor MykolaKalashnyk said.
"Unfortunately, animals were also affected by the attack -- approximately 20 animals died due to damage to a veterinary clinic," Kalashnyk added.
Some residents of the capital sheltered in the metro or in basements, AFP reporters said, but many people sat in cafes unfazed by the barrage and despite blaring air raid sirens.
In the Kyiv region, "a drone struck a residential building in Obukhiv, and another attack occurred between a kindergarten and a school in Vyshneve, damaging homes," Prime Minister YuliaSvyrydenko said.
Three people were killed in Ukraine's northern Sumy region. One person was killed in the northwestern Zhytomyr region and another in northeastern Kharkiv, local officials said.
The barrage prompted emergency power outages in several regions, operator Ukrenergo said.
"This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine's Easter ceasefire proposals -- with brutal attacks," Sybiga said.
Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelensky said Kyiv was ready for a truce over the Easter holidays but the Kremlin said it had not received any proposals.
Ukraine has accused Russia of prolonging the war to capture more territory and says Moscow is not interested in peace.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelensky on Friday accused Russia of escalating attacks before Catholic Easter as he spoke by phone with Pope Leo XIV during the latest aerial barrage by Moscow.
"At the very moment of our conversation, the Russians attacked Ukraine yet again," Zelensky said on social media.
"The Russians have only intensified their strikes, turning what should have been silence in the skies into an Easter escalation".
"Not a single hour of peace for our people, and this is Russia's response to our proposal for an Easter ceasefire," Zelensky said. "AFP
