Russia Pounds Kyiv with Missiles, Ukraine’s Military Says 

Firemen work to extinguish a fire in a building of the International Academy of Personnel Management after a missile attack in Kyiv on September 2, 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP) 
Firemen work to extinguish a fire in a building of the International Academy of Personnel Management after a missile attack in Kyiv on September 2, 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP) 
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Russia Pounds Kyiv with Missiles, Ukraine’s Military Says 

Firemen work to extinguish a fire in a building of the International Academy of Personnel Management after a missile attack in Kyiv on September 2, 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP) 
Firemen work to extinguish a fire in a building of the International Academy of Personnel Management after a missile attack in Kyiv on September 2, 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP) 

Russia pounded Ukraine's capital of Kyiv with missiles early on Monday, while falling debris from the downed weapons injured at least two people, sparking fires and damaging homes and infrastructure, officials said.

Ukraine's air defense units destroyed more than 10 cruise missiles and nearly 10 ballistic missiles, the city's military administration said on the Telegram messaging app.

Air raid alerts went out across Ukraine for nearly two hours before the air force declared the skies clear at 0330 GMT. Neighboring NATO member Poland activated Polish and allied aircraft to keep its airspace safe during the attacks.

A boiler house at a Kyiv water plant was partially damaged as was the entrance to a metro station doubling as a bomb shelter in the Svyatoshynksyi district, Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, though the station still operates.

The district is home to a cluster of universities and schools.

The attack injured at least two people, Klitschko said. Cars were set ablaze across the city as well as a non-residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, he added.

Emergency services also went to the districts of Svyatoshynksyi, Holosiivskyi, and Solomyanskyi, where debris fell from destroyed missiles, Klitschko added.

Solomyanskyi is home to a major train station and Kyiv's main airport. The historic neighborhood of Svyatoshynksyi is on the city's western edge, while Holosiivskyi is in its southwest.

Reuters' witnesses in Kyiv heard a series of loud explosions in what sounded like the work of air defense units, some in the central area.

The attack came exactly a week after Moscow launched more than 200 missiles and drones on Ukraine, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide in what Kyiv called the war's "most massive" attack.

Russia denies targeting civilians in the 30-month-old war unleashed by Moscow's invasion of its smaller neighbor.



US Democrats Urge Israel-Hamas Ceasefire after Dead Hostages Recovered

Demonstrators supporting the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza stand near six mock coffins during a protest rally outside the Kyria military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, 01 September 2024. (EPA)
Demonstrators supporting the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza stand near six mock coffins during a protest rally outside the Kyria military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, 01 September 2024. (EPA)
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US Democrats Urge Israel-Hamas Ceasefire after Dead Hostages Recovered

Demonstrators supporting the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza stand near six mock coffins during a protest rally outside the Kyria military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, 01 September 2024. (EPA)
Demonstrators supporting the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza stand near six mock coffins during a protest rally outside the Kyria military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, 01 September 2024. (EPA)

Several US Democratic lawmakers renewed calls for an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire on Sunday in reaction to the killing of six hostages in a tunnel under Gaza, while Republicans criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for not giving stronger support to Israel.

Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in Gaza where they were apparently killed shortly before its troops reached them, triggering Israeli protests on Sunday and planned strikes over the failure to save them.

The military said the bodies of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is an Israeli-American citizen, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino have been returned to Israel.

Biden spoke with Goldberg-Polin's parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, who appeared at the Democratic National Convention last month, to offer condolences, a White House official said.

Another US official said US national security adviser Jake Sullivan will hold a virtual meeting on Sunday with the families of American hostages held by Hamas.

Democratic US Senator Dick Durbin said in a post on X that he was "heartbroken and devastated" by the news of Goldberg-Polin's death, echoing sentiments of other US officials and lawmakers.

"A ceasefire must be reached immediately that allows all remaining hostages to be released, humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, and an elusive and neglected long-term vision for peace and stability to become a reality," said Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son Sagui is another hostage with American citizenship, said the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to engage in negotiations with Hamas to bring hostages home and time was running out.

He said the "entire senior military establishment and intelligence community has been saying publicly and openly for weeks and months that the time has come to end the fighting in Gaza, get our hostages home, as many alive as possible," Dekel-Chen told the CBS "Face the Nation" program."

BLAMING BIDEN

Republican lawmakers on Sunday did not urge a stronger push for ceasefire negotiations, with some blaming the Biden-Harris administration for not supporting Israel strongly enough.

"They continue to encourage and embolden Hamas," with calls for a ceasefire, said Republican Senator Tom Cotton.

Asked what Netanyahu's government should do in the face of growing protests in Israel, Cotton said: "I would urge him to finish the job against Hamas, which is exactly what Kamala Harris and Joe Biden should have done from the very beginning."

In a statement released by the White House just before midnight on Saturday, Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, did not call for a ceasefire and condemned Hamas for the deaths.

"Hamas is an evil terrorist organization. With these murders, Hamas has even more American blood on its hands. I strongly condemn Hamas' continued brutality, and so must the entire world," Harris said.

Harris later posted on X that she and her husband Doug Emhoff spoke to Goldberg-Polin's parents "to express our condolences following the brutal murder of their son by Hamas terrorists."

Republican senator Lindsey Graham called for more pressure on Iran, Hamas' main sponsor, telling ABC's "This Week" that the Biden administration and Israel "should hold Iran accountable for the fate of remaining hostages and put on the target list oil refineries in Iran if the hostages are not released."