Russian strikes on Kyiv during the day killed seven people on Friday, including a 14-year-old boy, local authorities said, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky disclosed that President Donald Trump had approved licences for Patriot air-defence systems, AFP reported via France 24.
“The death toll in the capital has risen to seven people,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. “So far, 46 residents of Kyiv have been injured.” Israel’s foreign ministry said the teenager was an Israeli citizen and his mother was among those wounded. Zelensky called the strikes on civilian targets, transport infrastructure, warehouses and residential areas “absolutely savage and sickening” and “devoid of any military logic.”
Russia has increasingly hit Kyiv in broad daylight with jet-powered drones that bypass some Ukrainian interception systems, AFP journalists reported, while ballistic missiles remain hard to stop without Patriots. “At our last meeting, President Trump emphasised to me that yes, I have made a final decision. Ukraine will receive licences for the production of Patriot missiles,” Zelensky said in a voice note. Even with licences, building industrial capacity would take more than a year and would not meet Kyiv’s immediate needs.
Separately, Zelensky said another person was killed in a double-tap strike on a postal facility in Odesa; a drone strike damaged a hospital ward in Zaporizhzhia. Hours after the Kyiv toll rose, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was revisiting whether to resume peace talks after recent Ukrainian strikes on Russia: “After everything they’ve done, we will give careful thought to what steps we need to take in response.”
Sources: AFP / France 24; Reuters
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