Kyiv, 27 December (H.S.): Russia's military launched a ferocious missile assault on Ukraine's capital in the early hours of Saturday, triggering multiple thunderous explosions that illuminated the skyline and activated nationwide air defenses amid heightened tensions.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko issued an urgent Telegram alert around 4:00 a.m. local time, declaring Explosions in the capital. Air defense forces are operating. Stay in shelters! as AFP journalists witnessed bright orange flashes and deafening blasts reverberating across the city.

Ukraine's Air Force simultaneously broadcast a countrywide air alert, confirming inbound cruise and ballistic missiles—likely launched from Bryansk Oblast—over multiple regions including Kyiv, with military channels reporting high-speed targets vectoring toward the capital.

Eyewitnesses described air defenses in frantic action, intercepting projectiles while debris rained down, though no immediate casualties or structural damage reports emerged by press time.

Escalation Shadows Trump-Zelensky Peace Talks

This barrage erupted two days before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's scheduled Sunday meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida to negotiate a 20-point U.S.-brokered ceasefire freezing frontlines and establishing demilitarized zones.

Russia accused Zelensky and EU allies Friday of sabotaging the plan, following Ukraine's recent Storm Shadow strikes on Russian oil refineries like Novoshakhtinsk.

The assault underscores Moscow's near four-year campaign's intensity, with prior attacks claiming six lives in Kyiv via energy infrastructure hits.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar