KYIV, Ukraine — At least 15 people were killed and nearly 100 more injured overnight, officials said, as Russia launched one of its largest attacks on the Ukrainian capital in recent months.
In the early hours of Tuesday, Russia launched a coordinated barrage of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles.
By the time the 10-hour air raid alert ended at about 6:00 a.m., the city was covered in a thick layer of smoke.
A nine-story apartment building in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district was struck by multiple Shahed drones and a ballistic missile. The impact of the missile caused an entire section of the building to collapse.
“First came three drones, that it when we went to the shelter,” said Svitlana, a 55-year-old grandmother who has lived in the building since she was 12 years old. “The Russians send drones first, wait for DSNS [State Emergency Service] to arrive, then attack with ballistics to kill as many as possible.”
Together with her neighbors, Svitlana was cleaning up glass and trying to assess the damage to their apartments.
Excited about the opportunity to speak to foreign journalists, Svitlana called her granddaughter, who could share her experience in English.
“This is trash,” 15-year-old Liza said of the attack. “We hid in the shelter, there were many explosions. I am in shock — it is a lot of stress.”
Russia attacked the capital with 175 drones, more than 14 cruise missiles and at least two ballistic missiles, according to Timur Tkachenko, the head of the Ukrainian capital’s military administration.
Amid the rubble, burned cars and broken glass scattered across the Solomyanskyi district, weary locals stood staring at the destruction of their homes, crying and embracing one another.
“This was my parents’ apartment, now it is mine. I have been living here my entire life. But today, three Shaheds hit our street, then the rocket destroyed the house,” one neighbor told The Moscow Times without sharing his name.
One man, visibly in shock and covered in blood, sat against the fence opposite the destroyed building, staring around him. Speaking in Russian, he explained that his “father is in the village, mother was taken into resuscitation. It does not seem good.”
Emergency workers from Ukraine’s DSNS arrived at the scene shortly after the attack, digging through the rubble for potential survivors and clearing the area.
Speaking to journalists at the scene, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that “every minute the number of injured and dead is increasing, we cannot say for certain how many casualties there have been.”
The aftermath of the attack has been documented at 12 separate sites across Kyiv’s Solomianskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Darnytskyi, Dniprovskyi, Podilskyi and Obolonskyi districts.
Klitschko published a video to his Telegram channel showing what he said was evidence of Russia’s use of cluster munitions “to kill as many people as possible. It cannot be said any other way.”
Later on Tuesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it launched “high-precision strikes” on military targets in the Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. “The goal of the strikes was achieved. All of the targeted sites were hit,” it said in a statement.
Russia has increased both the cadence and intensity of its strikes on the capital and other Ukrainian cities in recent months amid U.S. efforts to broker a peace deal with Russia and reduce weapons support for Ukraine.
Moscow has also ramped up its offensive efforts across the over 1,000-kilometer front line in hopes of forcing Ukraine to surrender to its maximalist goals.
Tuesday’s attack coincided with the G7 summit in Canada, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was expected to push the U.S. for stronger sanctions against Russia and increased support for Ukraine.
However, President Donald Trump left the summit early to return to Washington in light of the escalating air war between Israel and Iran, dousing Ukrainian hopes of gaining the attention of the U.S. leadership.
At 7:59 a.m. Kyiv time, air raid sirens once again sounded as another Russian ballistic missile was detected inbound, sending a wave of panic through the city.
Fearing a so-called “double tap” strike — a tactic in which an initial missile is followed by a second strike aimed at rescuers and survivors — bystanders, emergency workers and residents still reeling from the first wave scrambled for shelter. Streets that had just begun to fill with aid workers and media emptied in seconds as Kyiv braced for another impact.
This time, however, the missiles did not reach Kyiv.
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