Russia Kills At Least Eight in Second Day of Missile and Drone Strikes on Kyiv

Russia carried out a second day of large-scale missile and drone strikes on Ukraine, with Kyiv bearing the brunt of an assault that killed at least eight people, including a 13-year-old, and injured 44 in the capital.

“Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones targeting Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, killing at least three people and wounding 40 others, Ukrainian authorities have said”

Al Jazeera

The overnight attacks followed heavy daylight raids with missiles and drones across the country on Wednesday, and Zelenskyy wrote, “As of now, already five people have been reported killed in Kyiv as a result of last night’s Russian attack,” adding, “There must be a just response to all these strikes,” and saying he had ordered Ukraine’s armed forces to prepare options for retaliation.

Al Jazeera

The Guardian reported that Ukraine’s air force said the latest attack involved 56 missiles of various types and almost 700 drones, while Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said a large apartment block collapsed in the Darnytskyi district with “Eighteen apartments have been destroyed.”

Klitschko also said a rescue and search operation was ongoing and that “According to preliminary information, 11 people have been rescued from the building,” while Ukraine’s interior minister Ihor Klymenko said “more than 10 people were still believed to be missing” from the attack.

The BBC said the strikes hit more than 180 sites across Ukraine, including more than 50 residential buildings, and that rescuers were still searching for at least 20 people feared missing after the nine-storey apartment block was partially destroyed in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy framed the renewed barrage as proof Russia was not serious about ending the war, telling Ukrainians that “These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end,” while the BBC reported that Ukraine’s air defences had an overall interception rate of 93% and that missiles remained a “key challenge.”

In Kyiv, the BBC said the city’s day of mourning began after bodies were pulled from rubble, and it quoted EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accusing Moscow of indiscriminately targeting civilians in a post on X: “Another night of death and destruction,” she wrote.

ANSA

The Independent put the scale in a single figure set, saying Russia fired at least 675 drones and 56 missiles, while Ukraine said its air defences had downed or jammed 693 targets including 41 missiles.

The Independent also reported that Zelensky said Russian attacks hit “school, a veterinary clinic, and other purely civilian infrastructure,” and it added that the overnight strikes followed one of Putin’s worst daytime aerial assaults on Ukraine since the war began involving more than 800 drones as well as missiles.

In a separate thread of accountability, the Guardian reported that Zelenskyy’s comments came as the scale of the raids appeared to put paid to US President Donald Trump’s claims that a peace deal was close, after Putin had said the war may be approaching an end.

Ukraine’s immediate priorities after the strikes included strengthening air defence, with the BBC reporting that Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the country urgently needed “help in strengthening its air defence” and that “This is the only way to save our people and our cities.”

“Russia hammers Ukraine for a 3rd straight day, flattening a Kyiv apartment block and killing 7 Russia hammers Ukraine for a 3rd straight day, flattening a Kyiv apartment block and killing 7 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia on Thursday unleashed a third straight day of massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, demolishing an apartment building in Kyiv where seven people were killed and dozens injured, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said”

Associated Press

The BBC also said Zelenskyy urged allies to hold Moscow accountable and that he said Ukraine urgently needed “anti-ballistic systems and missiles for them,” while the Guardian reported that Zelenskyy had ordered Ukraine’s armed forces to prepare options for retaliation.

Beyond the battlefield, the Independent tied the timing of the assault to diplomacy, reporting that the attacks coincided with President Trump’s visit to China and that Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Putin launched “hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at the capital of Ukraine” “at the very time when leaders of the most powerful countries are meeting in Beijing.”

In parallel, the Guardian reported that Wednesday’s daytime raids killed at least 14 people and injured more than 80 others, and it said the strikes appeared to have included “double-tap” strikes aimed at first responders sent to the sites of attacks.

The BBC added that more than 1,500 rescuers and police officers were working in the aftermath of Russia’s overnight attacks, almost 600 of them in Kyiv, and that teams had moved more than 20 cubic metres of debris and evacuated five damaged vehicles.