Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv and Lviv struck by drones and missiles after Zelensky warns of ‘massive’ attack

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier has strongly criticised US foreign policy under president Donald Trump and urged countries not to let the world order disintegrate into a “den of robbers” where the unscrupulous take what they want.

In unusually strong remarks, which appeared to refer to actions such as the ousting of Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro at the weekend, the former foreign minister said global democracy was being attacked as never before.

Describing Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a watershed, Steinmeier said the US behaviour represented a second historic rupture.

“Then there is the breakdown of values by our most important partner, the USA, which helped build this world order,” Steinmeier said in remarks at a symposium late on Wednesday.

“It is about preventing the world from turning into a den of robbers, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want, where regions or entire countries are treated as the property of a few great powers,” he said.

The death toll in Kyiv is up to four after Russian drones attacked targets in the early hours today, officials said.

At least 19 were injured and considerable damage has been reported on dwellings and infrastructure.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of the capital’s military administration and mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that four people had been killed in the strikes, which began just before midnight (2200 GMT).

Klitschko said 19 people were injured, with 14 of them being treated in hospital.

One of the dead, Klitschko said, was an emergency medic who had arrived at a suburban apartment hit by two drones in succession. Four members of the same crew were injured in that incident.

At least three people were killed after Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and missiles overnight into Friday, Ukrainian officials said.

Russia also struck critical infrastructure in the western city of Lviv using an unidentified ballistic missile, said mayor Andriy Sadoviy.

The Western Command of Ukraine’s Air Force later said the missile traveled at a speed of 13,000km (more than 8,000 miles) per hour, and that the specific type of rocket was being investigated.

The attack took place just hours after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky alerted the nation about Russia’s intentions for a large-scale offensive.

He said that Russia aimed to take advantage of the frigid weather in the capital, making roads and streets perilously icy.

Several districts in Kyiv were hit in the attack, said Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. In the Desnyanskyi district a drone crashed onto the roof of a multi-story building.

At another address in the same district the first two floors of a residential building were damaged as a result of the attack.

In Dnipro district, parts of a drone damaged a multi-story building and a fire broke out.

Running water and electricity were disrupted in parts of the capital as a result of the attack, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russia’s latest strikes on electricity, heating and water infrastructure in Ukraine, which left hundreds of thousands in southeastern Ukraine without power and heat.

“There is absolutely no military rationale in such strikes on the energy sector and infrastructure that leave people without electricity and heating in wintertime,” he wrote in a post on X.

Mr Zelensky added that the ongoing diplomatic process to end the war should not affect the supply of air defence systems and equipment to Ukraine.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and the US embassy in Kyiv have both said a significant Russian attack could be imminent.

It was a rare instance of simultaneous warnings from both Kyiv and the US government.

Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, said: “There is information there could be a new, massive Russian strike this evening” and warned residents to take shelter when air raid sirens are sounded.

The US embassy said it had also received information “concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days”.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian president Vladimir Putin in a letter that he will support Putin’s policies unconditionally and permanently, North Korean state media KCNA said in a report today.

“I will unconditionally respect and unconditionally support all your policies and decisions and I have a willingness to be always with you for the sake of you and your Russia,” Kim said in a letter to Putin, KCNA reported.

“This choice will be constant and permanent,” he said. Kim’s letter was a reply to a letter Putin sent earlier, KCNA said.

Moscow has repeated its rejection of any troops from European nations in Ukraine after a ceasefire, warning that it would not accept any Nato members sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.

“All such units and facilities will be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said yesterday.

Calling the plan “dangerous” and “destructive”, the Kremlin spokesperson accused Kyiv’s allies of forming an “axis of war”.

Earlier this week, European leaders and US envoys announced that post-war guarantees for Ukraine would include a US-led monitoring mechanism and a European multinational force to be deployed once the fighting stops.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that Europe must raise the price of the war in Ukraine to force Russia into accepting a ceasefire.

“A ceasefire is still not on the agenda, quite obviously because Russia does not want it,” Mr Merz said on Thursday after talks at the party conference of his conservatives’ Bavarian sister party, the CSU.

“We will therefore have to continue to raise the price of this war – Russia must realise that there is no point in continuing it,” he said.