Russia attacks Kyiv with missiles and drones, killing 1 and wounding many ahead of Ukraine-US talks

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia attacked Ukraine's capital with missiles and drones early Saturday morning, killing one person and wounding 27 others, a day before talks between Ukraine and the U.S., local authorities said.

Explosions boomed across Kyiv for hours as ballistic missiles and drones hit the city. The attack began in the early morning hours Saturday and was continuing as day broke.

The attack came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday for further talks in an effort to end the nearly 4-year-old war. Zelenskyy said they plan to discuss issues including security guarantees and territorial issues in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that it carried out a “massive strike” overnight, using “long-range precision-guided weapons from land, air, and sea, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles” and drones, on energy infrastructure facilities “used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” as well as “Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises.”

The ministry said the strike came in response to Ukraine’s attacks on “civilian objects” in Russia.

Earlier on Saturday, the ministry said its air defenses shot down seven Ukrainian drones over the Russian regions of Krasnodar and Adygeya overnight.

Poland scrambled fighter jets and closed airports in Lublin and Rzeszow near the border with Ukraine for several hours during the Russian attacks, the country’s armed forces command said on X. There was no violation of Polish airspace, it said. Civil aviation authority Pansa said the two airports had since resumed operations. It was unclear what caused the alert in Poland when the Russian attacks were focused on Kyiv, which is far from the border.

Russia targeted Ukraine with almost 500 drones and 40 missiles of various types, Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram. The main target was energy and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, he said. In some districts of the region there is no electricity or heating because of the attacks, he added.

“There have been many questions these days. Where is the Russian response to the proposals to end the war, which were made by the United States and the world?” Zelenskyy said. “Russian representatives hold long talks, in reality the ‘Kinzal’ and ‘Shaheds’ speak for them."

There were over 10 damaged residential buildings in the attack, said Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, in a post on Telegram. People were being evacuated from under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Olena Karpenko, 52, heard a man as he burned to death in the attack. “His scream is still in my ears. I can’t believe it,” she said, weeping.

Karpenko said they heard a sudden explosion at the nearby thermal power plant, followed by a stronger blast that shook the windows of her home. Then came the hit on her building.

“I saw how the apartment was burning, there was a fire and we heard a man’s screams, begging for help," he said.

Two children were among those wounded in the attack, which affected seven locations across the city of Kyiv said the head of Kyiv's City Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko in a statement on Telegram. A body was found under the rubble of one damaged building, said Klymenko.

A fire broke out in an 18-story residential building in the Dnipro district of the city, and emergency crews rushed to the scene to contain the flames.

A 24-story residential building in the Darnytsia district was also hit, Tkachenko said, and more fires broke out in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivsky districts.

In the wider Kyiv region, the strikes hit industrial and residential buildings, according to Ukraine's Emergency Service. In the Vyshhorod area, emergency crews rescued one person found under the rubble of a destroyed house.

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Associated Press journalist Daria Litvinova contributed from Tallinn, Estonia.

Rescuers work on the scene of a building damaged by a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Rescuers work on the scene of a building damaged by a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Rescuers work on the scene of a building damaged by a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Rescuers work on the scene of a building damaged by a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

SEMMERING, Austria (AP) — Olympic champion Sara Hector led a tight women’s World Cup giant slalom after the opening run Saturday as discipline leader Alice Robinson skied out.

Chasing her first victory in nearly a year, Hector was 0.02 seconds faster than Austria’s Julia Scheib and 0.13 faster than Italian-born Lara Colturi, who starts for Albania.

“It’s not easy, the course set is unrhythmic. I just tried to give gas and ski cleanly,” Hector told Austrian TV.

Hector has seven career World Cup wins, all in giant slalom, but the Swedish skier has not triumphed since winning a race in Slovenia in the first weekend of January.

Mikaela Shiffrin, who won the race in Semmering near capital Vienna four times between 2012 and 2022, was among the fastest starters but seemed to hold back after catching a few bumps and nearly skiing out. The American star finished in eighth position had 1.16 seconds to make up in the second leg later Saturday.

Shiffrin, the 2018 Olympic champion who holds the women’s World Cup record of 22 GS victories, has not been on a giant slalom podium in her past nine races — the longest streak in her career since the first 15 GS races of her career without top-three result in 2010-11.

Dominating slalom this season with four wins from as many races, Shiffrin is still trying to regain her form in GS, more than a year after suffering a deep puncture wound in her side and severe trauma to her oblique muscles in a bad crash at a race in Killington, Vermont.

A two-time winner this season, Robinson clocked the fastest intermediate time before the New Zealand racer lost her balance and slid off the course in a left turn.

“I got unlucky and off balance and I pressured in a bad spot and just went face flat,” Robinson said. “I am really disappointed not to be walking away with any points.”

Coming into the race, Robinson led Scheib by 12 points in the discipline standings. The Austrian skier also won twice, including the most recent GS in Tremblant, Quebec, three weeks ago.

Shiffrin’s teammate Nina O’Brien had a nasty-looking crash after a strong start to her run but the American appeared unhurt.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

New Zealand's Alice Robinson reacts after skiing off course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin ahead of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

Sweden's Sara Hector starts an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Sweden's Sara Hector competes during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)