Kyiv, 24 April

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he is cutting short his official trip to South Africa and returning home after a major Russian strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with missiles and drones killed at least nine people and injured more than 70.

Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy arrived in South Africa for a state visit following US President Donald Trump's new accusations that he is prolonging the war against Russia by pushing back against any plan to give up Ukrainian territory in a peace deal.

Zelenskyy landed in South Africa overnight and was travelling around the time Trump said the Ukrainian leader was prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to cede illegally occupied Crimea to Russia as part of a potential peace plan.

While Zelenskyy was travelling, a large-scale Russian missile and drone attack hit Kyiv, killing nine people and injuring over 70, including six children, Ukrainian authorities said.

Zelenskyy will meet South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the government Union Buildings in Pretoria later Thursday and their discussions will include “areas of cooperation with the objective to support efforts to bring lasting peace,” according to Ramaphosa's office.

Ramaphosa has put himself forward as a possible mediator in the war due to South Africa's ties with Russia through the BRICS bloc of developing nations, although his efforts have produced little concrete progress.

Ramaphosa said he spoke on a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday and the two leaders had “committed to working together towards a peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”

Zelenskyy has questioned Russia's commitment to peace, saying an Easter ceasefire announced by Putin was not genuine and Moscow continued to launch attacks on Ukraine.

The Russian attack on Kyiv on Thursday came hours after weeks of peace negotiations appeared to be coming to a head without an agreement in sight. Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy on Wednesday, accusing him of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimea Peninsula as part of a possible deal.

Zelenskyy has repeated many times during the more than three-year war that recognising occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country. He noted Thursday that Ukraine had agreed to a US ceasefire proposal 44 days ago, as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Russia's attacks had continued.

While talks have been going on in recent weeks, Russia has hit the city of Sumy, killing more than 30 civilians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs.

Kyiv residents spent the night in shelters

At least 42 people were hospitalised following the attack on residential suburbs of Kyiv, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.

Rescue workers with flashlights scoured the charred rubble of partly collapsed homes as the blue lights of emergency vehicles lit up the dark city streets.

At a Kyiv residential building that was almost entirely destroyed, emergency workers removed rubble with their hands, rescuing a trapped woman who emerged from the wreckage covered in white dust and moaning in pain.

An elderly woman sat against a brick wall, face smeared with blood, her eyes fixed to the ground in shock as medics tended to her wounds.

Fires were reported in several residential buildings said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the city military administration.

The attack, which began around 1 am, hit at least five neighbourhoods in Kyiv.

Oksana Bilozir, a student, suffered a head injury in the attack. With blood seeping from her bandaged head, she said that she heard a loud explosion after the air alarm blared and began to grab her things to flee to a shelter when another blast caused her home's walls to crumble and the lights to go off.

“I honestly don't even know how this will all end, it's very scary,” said Bilozir, referring to the war against Russia's invasion. “I only believe that if we can stop them on the battlefield, then that's it. No diplomacy works here.”

The attack kept many people awake all night long as multiple loud explosions reverberated around the city and flashes of light punctuated the sky. Families gathered in public air raid shelters, some of them bringing their pet cat and dog.

At least four other regions of Ukraine came under overnight aerial attack, authorities said.

Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that he would fly back to Kyiv after meeting with President Ramaphosa.

The Ukrainian leader had hoped to recruit further South African support in efforts to end his country's war with Russia, now in its fourth year.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Kyiv attack was “yet another appalling violation of international humanitarian law”.

“Civilians must never be targets. This senseless use of force must stop,” it said in a statement.

Anastasiia Zhuravlova, 33, a mother of two, was sheltering in a basement after multiple blasts damaged her home. Her family was sleeping when the first explosion shattered their windows and sent kitchen appliances flying in the air. Shards of glass rained down on them as they rushed to take cover in the corridor.

“After that we came to the shelter because it was scary and dangerous at home,” she said.