Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Russian missiles and drones ripped through apartment blocks in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early Thursday, killing at least eight people in what President Volodymyr Zelensky said represented a clear disregard for peace negotiations.

At dawn, residents and emergency service workers were clearing debris from streets strewn with broken glass and building materials, an AFP journalist at the scene of one strike in central Kyiv saw.

The attack had blasted a five-storey crater in one apartment block, ripping the building in two, images posted by Zelensky showed.

The windows of residential buildings and small businesses in the surrounding block were blown out.

Mattresses hung out of crumpled balconies, blown open in the strike.

At least eight people were killed, Zelensky said, including a child.

“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table. It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war,” he said on social media.

“This means that Russia still does not fear the consequences.”

Zelensky called for a tough response from Ukraine’s allies, including fresh sanctions.

He also called on Russia’s ally China and EU member Hungary to take a much tougher stance against Moscow.

“All deadlines have already been broken, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy ruined. Russia must feel accountable for every strike, for every day of this war,” he said.

Among the victims of Thursday’s strike were a 14-year-old girl, Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the city’s military administration, said.

Moscow had fired ballistic and cruise missiles as well as Iranian-designed Shahed drones from different directions to “systematically” target residential buildings, he said.

Red tracer bullets sailed through the night sky in an effort to intercept drones above the city centre, an AFP journalist saw.

During the attack, residents took refuge in subway stations, some lying in sleeping bags and others holding their pets.

A five-storey building in the Darnytsky district had collapsed, and a city centre shopping mall was also hit, the mayor of Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko reported.