Russian missiles and drones struck residential areas in Kyiv early Thursday, killing at least 18 people in what both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy said showed Moscow’s disregard for ongoing peace negotiations.
Emergency workers and residents cleared shattered glass and debris from streets in central Kyiv, where one strike blasted a large gaping hole in an apartment building, images posted by Zelensky showed.
Mattresses dangled from destroyed balconies, while windows of nearby homes and businesses were blown out. Among the dead were three children, with the youngest being two years old, city officials said.
“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table. It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war,” Zelensky said on social media, calling for tougher sanctions and a stronger response from allies.
Kyiv, once relatively shielded from Russian aerial assaults, has suffered repeated deadly strikes in recent months. In July, one of the worst barrages killed more than 30 people, including five children.
On Thursday, Kyiv military chief Tymur Tkachenko said Russia launched ballistic and cruise missiles, along with Iranian-designed Shahed drones from multiple directions to “systematically” target residential neighborhoods.
A five-story building in the Darnytsky district collapsed, while a shopping mall was also hit, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said. During the bombardment, residents sheltered in subway stations, some with sleeping bags and pets.
European Council President Antonio Costa said the attacks damaged the EU’s diplomatic mission in the city. He posted a picture on X from the inside of an office with the windows blown out and debris scattered across the room.
“My thoughts are with the Ukrainian victims and also with the staff of the EU delegation, whose building was damaged in this deliberate Russian strike,” Costa wrote in the post.
A British government cultural building was also damaged. Both Brussels and London summoned Russia’s ambassadors after the barrage in Kyiv.
Trump envoy Keith Kellogg called the strikes “egregious” and said they “threaten the peace” that the American president is pursuing.
“The targets? Not soldiers and weapons but residential areas in Kyiv — blasting civilian trains, the EU & British mission council offices, and innocent civilians,” Kellogg wrote in a post on X.
In a daily briefing, Russia’s military did not provide any information about its air assault against Kyiv, stating only that it carried out “precision” strikes on military sites across Ukraine. It claimed that all targets were “destroyed.”
The Kremlin later on Thursday accused Ukraine of “continuing to strike... Russian civilian infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, in Russia, the Defense Ministry reported downing more than 100 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, leading to flight and train disruptions in several regions.
In the southern Rostov region, 50 homes were evacuated after an explosives-laden drone crashed into the roof of a house in a residential area but failed to detonate. In the neighboring Krasnodar region, Ukrainian drone attacks caused fires at an oil refinery and nearby forest.
No one was reported injured or killed in the overnight attacks on Russia.
AFP contributed reporting.
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