Russia has carried out a mass missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 100 others, officials say.
A drone smashed into an apartment block, destroying dozens of flats and Ukraine’s interior minister said the country had been hit by 440 drones and 32 missiles.
The attack overnight into Tuesday was among the biggest on the capital since the start of Russia’s full-scale war and President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was “one of the most terrifying strikes”. Two people were also killed in the southern city of Odesa.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had targeted Ukraine’s military-industrial complexes and that all its targets had been hit.
The strikes on Kyiv lasted more than nine hours – sending residents fleeing to underground shelters from before midnight until after sunrise.
Officials said a ballistic missile hit a nine-storey apartment building in one district, with a total of 27 locations in the city coming under fire. An entrance to the building in the southwestern Solomyanskyi district came crashing down and there were concerns the number of casualties could rise.
A 62-year-old US citizen was among those killed, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
ReutersStanding in front of the remains of the building, Klitschko said more than 40 apartments had been destroyed and more people might be trapped under the rubble.
He accused Russia of firing cluster bomblets filled with ball bearings to kill as many people as possible.
“Waking up in utter nightmare: people trapped under rubble and full buildings collapsed,” Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko wrote on X.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that a variety of buildings had come under Russian attack, including residential, critical infrastructure and educational facilities.
Loud explosions rocked the city, along with the rattle of the machine guns used by mobile Ukrainian air defence units to shoot down drones.
More sirens later in the morning disrupted rescue operations in the city, hampering emergency workers searching the rubble for survivors.
Russia has intensified its air attacks against Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, with a tactic of sending large waves of drones and decoys designed to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences.
Kyiv has launched attacks of its own, as direct talks between the warring sides failed to secure a ceasefire or significant breakthrough.
Russia accused Ukrainian forces of launching a missile strike on a district in occupied Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, and Russia-appointed officials said at least 10 people had been hurt.
A reported 147 Ukrainian drones were shot down over nine Russian regions overnight, Russian news agencies said.
ReutersPresident Zelensky, who has travelled to the G7 summit in Canada, called Russia’s most recent wave of strikes “pure terrorism”.
He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of carrying out the large-scale strikes “solely because he can afford to continue this war”.
“It is bad when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to this,” he said, adding: “It is the terrorists who should feel the pain, not normal, peaceful people.”
Drone strikes also hit the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, killing two people and wounding 10 others, officials said.
Zelensky had been hoping to speak with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Tuesday, but Trump cut short his stay amid the escalating crisis in the Middle East.
The news will come as a blow to Zelensky and his administration, which had been hoping to secure US support at the conference for Ukraine’s strategic and military goals.
Nevertheless, the UK and its allies are expected to announce additional sanctions on Russia on Tuesday in continued efforts to sustain pressure on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
