Russian attacks kill six across Ukraine, Kyiv says

KYIV — A Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian capital killed three people on Saturday, Ukrainian leaders said, branding it a "heinous" attack, while Moscow described it as "retaliation".

Ukrainian officials said another three people were killed in Russian strikes elsewhere in the country, and Moscow claimed fresh advances on the ground.

Russia frequently targets Kyiv with aerial attacks, but deadly strikes there are rare as the capital is heavily protected by air defences and better able to fend off attacks than elsewhere in the country.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the world to step up pressure on the Kremlin to force it to end the nearly three-year invasion.

City officials said the victims were two men, aged 43 and 25, and a 41-year-old woman.

AFP journalists in Kyiv saw a multi-storey building with windows blown out, debris strewn across the street, flooding, and the charred facade of a damaged McDonald's outlet.

Russia's defence ministry said its forces had "carried out a group strike with precision-guided weapons against Ukrainian military-industrial facilities, including the Luch Design Bureau that develops and manufactures long-range guided missiles".

The attack on the target in Kyiv was "retaliation" for Ukraine's use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles in strikes on Russian territory, it added.

At least three people were killed and three wounded, Zelensky said, revising down an earlier toll of four.

"Everyone who is helping the Russian state in this war must be put under such pressure that it is felt no less than these strikes," Zelensky said on social media.

Later Saturday, in his evening address, Zelensky noted that the strikes had been carried out by ballistic missiles.

"We are constantly working to secure more air-defense systems for Ukraine, modern systems , capable of intercepting these types of ballistic missiles," he added.