Kyiv, Ukraine
—
European leaders expressed outrage after kyiv was bombarded by the second largest Russian air attack since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, killing at least 23 people, including four children, officials said.
Buildings belonging to the European Union and the British Council were damaged in Thursday's strikes, forcing the EU and Britain to summon Russia's top diplomats to their capitals.
Among those killed were children aged 2, 17 and 14, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the kyiv city military administration. The vast majority of those killed – 22 – died in a strike on a five-story building in the Darnytskyi district, according to emergency services.
Ukraine's air force said the Kremlin used 629 air attack weapons against the country overnight, including 598 drones and 31 missiles.
Yuriy Ihnat, the air force's communications chief, told CNN the strikes constituted “one of the largest combined attacks” against the country.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it struck “enterprises of the military-industrial complex and military air bases in Ukraine” using “high-precision weapons.”
Ukrainian authorities said hundreds of responders were dispatched to incidents at several sites, including a building used by the EU mission to Ukraine and the British Council.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of targeting diplomats “in direct violation of the Vienna Convention” and called for “global condemnation” in a statement on X.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was “outraged” by the incident, calling it “another grim reminder of what is at stake.”
“These Russian missiles and attack drones today constitute a clear response to all those in the world who have been calling for weeks and months for a ceasefire and real diplomacy,” he said in a previous article.
The EU chief spoke with Zelensky and US President Donald Trump after the strikes, von der Leyen added in a statement. post onalso stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin “needs to come to the negotiating table.”
The EU mission, based in kyiv since 1993, works to “promote political and economic relations” between Ukraine and the EU, among other mandates, according to its website.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Putin was “killing children and civilians and sabotaging hopes for peace.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the assault a “horrific and deliberate murder of civilians” job on X. “This shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine, indiscriminately killing civilians, men, women and children, and even targeting the European Union,” she said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was still interested in peace talks, but stressed that the “special military operation,” how Russia describes the war, “continues.”
Trump was “not happy” but “not surprised” by the strikes, the White House said Thursday, adding that he was “carefully” monitoring developments. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump wants the war to end, but that Putin and Zelensky “must want it to end, too.”
White House special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg also condemned the nighttime strikes, write on that “these blatant attacks threaten the peace that (Trump) seeks.”
Vitaliy Protsiuk, a kyiv resident, told CNN that his wife had been missing since the attack.
The couple was about to go to their apartment building's air raid shelter when there was an “explosion,” Protsiuk said.
“I was buried,” he continued. “When I came out, everything was covered in dust and smoke. I looked up: the roof was gone and the floors from the fourth to the first were completely destroyed.
“As of right now, my wife hasn't been found. Her phone isn't answering. She's not listed anywhere. I don't know…we're still looking,” Protsiuk added.
Residents suffered an air alert for more than nine hours overnight, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
Agency photos showed residents once again flocking to subway stations where many were spending the night. Residents were advised to “stay in shelters” during the strikes and the green light was announced shortly before 7 a.m. local time.
The major attack on the Ukrainian capital comes just over two weeks after Trump's arrival. face to face discussions with Putin, seeking to secure and end the war.
But momentum around the talks has stalled, and there are no signs that a bilateral meeting advocated by the White House between Zelensky and Putin will take place.
On Wednesday, Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky's office, and Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, met with the Saudi defense minister to discuss ending the conflict.
A Ukrainian delegation is also expected to meet with US officials in New York on Friday, according to Zelensky.
Meanwhile, Putin is expected to travel to China next week to watch a huge military parade. Other guests will include North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as well as pro-Russia European leaders such as Serbia's Aleksandar Vucic and Slovakia's Robert Fico.
The attack on kyiv is the latest in a series of Russian attacks across Ukraine this week.
Ukrainian open-source researchers confirmed on Tuesday that Russian troops had captured two villages in the Dnipropetrovsk region, southeastern Ukraine.
Russian forces now occupy the villages of Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka, according to DeepState, a group that tracks developments on the battlefield.
Ukraine's undermanned and outgunned military is struggling to repel Russian advances in much of the east, as Moscow increases pressure on kyiv to cede territory in any peace talks.
“Russia chooses ballistics rather than the negotiating table,” Zelensky wrote in his message on X after the latest night attacks. “He chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war. And that means Russia still doesn't fear the consequences.”
In his analysis of the latest Russian strikes against kyiv, Tkachenko said the Kremlin had a typical “signature” that involves “combined attacks coming from different directions” and targeting “ordinary residential buildings.”
Decoy missiles were used as false targets to confuse Ukraine's defense systems, the military chief added.
Several high-rise residential buildings were damaged, as well as a kindergarten, private housing, non-residential buildings, offices, transportation infrastructure and dozens of cars, officials said.
Friday was declared a day of mourning in kyiv, according to city authorities. Flags will be flown at half-mast and entertainment events will be canceled, he said.
