KYIV: Russia fired its biggest-ever aerial barrage at Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least two people and setting the seat of the Ukrainian government in Kyiv ablaze, authorities said.
A strike on a nine-story residential building in the west of Kyiv killed at least two people, a mother and her two-month-old son, prosecutors said. 18 people were wounded, according to police.
An AFP reporter saw the roof of Ukraine's cabinet of ministers in flames and smoke billowing over the capital. Drone strikes also damaged several high-rise buildings in Kyiv, according to emergency services.
Russia has shown no sign of halting its three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine, pushing hardline demands for ending the war despite efforts by the United States to broker a peace deal.
The strike on Ukraine's cabinet of ministers, a sprawling government complex at the heart of Kyiv, was the first such strike of the war.
An AFP reporter saw helicopters dropping what appeared to be buckets of water over the roof, as emergency services rushed to the scene.
Police cordoned off the area surrounding the building.
"The roof and upper floors were damaged due to an enemy attack. Rescuers are extinguishing the fire," Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Telegram.
"We will restore the buildings. But we cannot bring back lost lives. The enemy terrorises and kills our people every day throughout the country," she said.
Russia fired at least 805 drones and 13 missiles at Ukraine between late Saturday and early Sunday, the largest of the war, according to the Ukrainian air force.
Peace efforts stall
The barrage came after two dozen countries, led by France and Britain, pledged Thursday to join a "reassurance" force to patrol any agreement to end the war, unleashed by Moscow's February 2022 invasion.
Kyiv says security guarantees, backed by Western troops, are crucial to any pace deal to ensure Russia does not invade again in the future.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed any Western forces in Ukraine as unacceptable and said they would be "legitimate" targets.
Efforts in recent weeks by US President Donald Trump to end the war have so far yielded little progress.
Russian forces occupy around 20 percent of Ukrainian territory in total.
Tens of thousands have been killed in three and a half years of fighting, which has forced millions from their homes and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine in Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.