KYIV: A Russian drone attack on Kyiv killed at least two people and injured several, sparking fires in high-rise apartment buildings and throughout the capital, Ukrainian officials said early on Sunday.
“A massive enemy drone attack on Kyiv,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on the Telegram messaging app.
The scale of the overnight attack was not immediately clear. Reuters witnesses heard several blasts in what sounded like air defense systems in operation.
The state emergency service posted photos showing firefighters fighting blazes at night, including high in an apartment building.
A woman died after drone debris sparked a fire in a high-rise residential building in Dniprovskyi district, the emergency service said on Telegram, while at least 27 people were evacuated from the building.
Another person died in the Holosiivskyi district, the service said.
The United States is pushing for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, and hoping to agree on a partial ceasefire that would halt strikes on energy infrastructure. But both sides have been reporting continued strikes.
At least seven people were injured throughout Kyiv and emergency services were dispatched to several districts of the city where fires were reported, Klitschko said.
Two were injured and several houses damaged in the region surrounding the capital, regional Governor Mykola Kalashnik said on Telegram.
There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the three-year-long war that Russia started with its full-scale invasion on Ukraine. Kyiv, its surrounding region and the eastern half of Ukraine were under air raid alerts for more than five hours, starting late on Saturday, according to Ukraine’s Air Force maps.
![]()
Russian drone attack on Kyiv kills two, injures several, Ukrainian officials say
Short Url
https://arab.news/8ekn2
Russian drone attack on Kyiv kills two, injures several, Ukrainian officials say
- The state emergency service posted photos showing firefighters fighting blazes at night, including high in an apartment building
’We’ll bring him home’: Thai family’s long wait for Gaza hostage to end
NONG KHAI: Two years after Thai worker Sudthisak Rinthalak was killed by Hamas militants, his family in northeastern Thailand is preparing to welcome his remains home and hold a Buddhist ceremony they believe will bring his spirit peace.
Sudthisak was among 47 hostages whose bodies Hamas has returned under the current ceasefire agreement. The handover of deceased hostages was a key condition of the initial phase of the deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
Sudthisak’s elder brother Thepporn has spent the past two years fulfilling promises he made to his younger sibling, using compensation money to build a new house, buy pickup trucks for their elderly parents and expand their rubber farm.
But the 50-year-old farmer says none of it matters without Sudthisak there to see it.
“Everything is done but the person I did these things for is not here,” Thepporn said, walking through the rubber plantation in Nong Khai province near the Laos border.
Israel identified Sudthisak’s remains on Thursday after Hamas handed over his body as part of a ceasefire deal. The 44-year-old agricultural worker was captured by Hamas at an avocado farm during its October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and later killed at Kibbutz Be’eri.
The last image his family has of Sudthisak came from a video sent by friends that showed him lying face down with militants pointing guns at him.
“I feel sad because I couldn’t do anything to help him,” Thepporn said. “There was nothing I could do when I saw him with my own eyes. He was hiding behind a wooden frame and they were pointing the gun at him.”
For months, the family waited through multiple hostage releases, hoping Sudthisak would be among those freed alive. Each time brought disappointment.
“Whenever there was a hostage release, he was never included,” Thepporn said.
Sudthisak had gone to Israel to earn money to support his father, Thongma, 77, and mother, On, 80, who live in a farming community from which young people commonly go abroad for work.
His sister-in-law Boonma Butrasri wiped away tears as she spoke about the family’s loss.
“I don’t want war to happen. I don’t want this at all,” she said.
Before the conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai laborers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country.
Thepporn said his brother’s death serves as a warning to other Thai workers considering jobs abroad.
“I just want to tell the world that you’ve got to think very carefully when sending your family abroad,” he said.
“See which countries are at war or not, and think carefully.”
Sudthisak was among 47 hostages whose bodies Hamas has returned under the current ceasefire agreement. The handover of deceased hostages was a key condition of the initial phase of the deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
Sudthisak’s elder brother Thepporn has spent the past two years fulfilling promises he made to his younger sibling, using compensation money to build a new house, buy pickup trucks for their elderly parents and expand their rubber farm.
But the 50-year-old farmer says none of it matters without Sudthisak there to see it.
“Everything is done but the person I did these things for is not here,” Thepporn said, walking through the rubber plantation in Nong Khai province near the Laos border.
Israel identified Sudthisak’s remains on Thursday after Hamas handed over his body as part of a ceasefire deal. The 44-year-old agricultural worker was captured by Hamas at an avocado farm during its October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and later killed at Kibbutz Be’eri.
The last image his family has of Sudthisak came from a video sent by friends that showed him lying face down with militants pointing guns at him.
“I feel sad because I couldn’t do anything to help him,” Thepporn said. “There was nothing I could do when I saw him with my own eyes. He was hiding behind a wooden frame and they were pointing the gun at him.”
For months, the family waited through multiple hostage releases, hoping Sudthisak would be among those freed alive. Each time brought disappointment.
“Whenever there was a hostage release, he was never included,” Thepporn said.
Sudthisak had gone to Israel to earn money to support his father, Thongma, 77, and mother, On, 80, who live in a farming community from which young people commonly go abroad for work.
His sister-in-law Boonma Butrasri wiped away tears as she spoke about the family’s loss.
“I don’t want war to happen. I don’t want this at all,” she said.
Before the conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai laborers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country.
Thepporn said his brother’s death serves as a warning to other Thai workers considering jobs abroad.
“I just want to tell the world that you’ve got to think very carefully when sending your family abroad,” he said.
“See which countries are at war or not, and think carefully.”
Latest updates
© 2025 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.