We talk about “one of the biggest combined attacks” against Ukraine, which also reached representations of NATO countries
Kiev was bombarded again at night. It was Russia’s second largest air strike since the total invasion of Ukraine. At least 21 people died, including four children, according to the authorities.
The buildings of the European Union and British Council in the city were hit by the attacks, which led the EU and the United Kingdom to call the main Russian diplomats.
Among the dead are children aged 2, 17 and 14, according to the head of the Military Administration of the city of Kiev.
The Ukrainian Air Force stated that Kremlin launched 629 air strike weapons against the country at night, including 598 drones and 31 missiles.
Yuriy Ihnat, Air Force’s head of communications, told CNN that it was “one of the biggest combined attacks” against the country.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia has stated that it attacked “companies of the Military-Industrial Complex and military air bases in Ukraine” using “weapons of high precision.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow is still interested in peace talks, but stressed that “special military operation,” the way Russia describes the war, “continues.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky classified the attack as a “horrible and deliberate civil killing” in a post at X.
As of now, already 14 people are known to have been killed as a result of the Russian attack, including 3 children. A horrific and deliberate killing of civilians.
The Russians are not choosing to end the war, only new strikes. Overnight in Kyiv, dozens of buildings were…
– Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelenskyy (@zelenskyyua)
“The missiles and drones released today are a clear response to all the people in the world who, for weeks and months, have appealed to a ceasefire and true diplomacy,” he said in a previous publication.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, hundreds of professionals were sent to respond to incidents in various locations, including in the building used by the EU mission in Ukraine.
The mission, which has been headquartered in Kiev since 1993, works to “promote political and economic relations” between Ukraine and the EU, among other mandates, according to its website.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “outraged” with the incident, nicknamed him “another dark memory of what is at stake.”
“The incident shows that there is nothing that holds Kremlin to terrorize Ukraine and blindly kill civilians, men, women and children, even targeting the European Union,” he said.
The EU chief who spoke to Zelensky and US President Donald Trump after the attacks. He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin, “should come to the negotiation table.”
Ukrainian rescuers transport a victim’s body during a search and rescue operation in the rubble of a residential building hit by a attack on Russian missiles on Thursday. Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
Kaja Kallas reported that the block summoned the Russian envoy in Brussels after the attack on clarification.
The Kiev British Council building was also hit by the attacks, according to British Prime Minister Keir Stmerer, who said Putin is “killing children and civilians and sabotaging hope for peace.”
London summoned the Russian ambassador, according to a publication by the British Secretary of Foreign Affairs, David Lammy, on social networks, where he added that “the killing and destruction have to stop.”
The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha, accused Moscow of attacking diplomats “in direct violation of the Vienna Convention” and appealed to the “world condemnation” in a statement in X.
The White House special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, also condemned the night attacks, writing in X that “these blatant attacks threaten the peace that (Trump) is looking for.”
Last night Russia launched the second largest aerial attack of the war with 600 drones and 31 missiles. The targets? Not soldiers and weapons but residential areas in Kyiv—blasting civilian trains, the EU & British mission council offices, and innocent civilians.
These egregious…
— Keith Kellogg (@generalkellogg)
“I looked up – the roof had disappeared”
Vitaliy Protsiuk, a Kiev resident, told CNN that his wife has been missing since the attack.
The couple was preparing to go to the anti-bomb shelter from the building where he lives when there was an “explosion”.
“I was buried,” he continued. “When I left, everything was covered with dust and smoke. I looked up – the roof was gone and the first -room floors were completely destroyed.”
“So far, my wife has not yet been found. Her phone does not respond. It does not appear anywhere. I don’t know … We are still looking for,” Protsiuk added.
According to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, the air strike alert was issued for more than nine hours at night.
Images collected by Reuters show the local population to go to the metro stations, where many spent the night. Residents were advised to “remain in shelters” during the attacks and the warning was announced shortly before 7 am local time.
The big attack against the Ukrainian capital occurs just over two weeks after, with the aim of realizing the end of the war.
However, the impetus around discussions stagnated, without any sign that a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin, promoted by the White House, will take place.
On Wednesday, Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, and Rustem Umarov, secretary of the Ukraine Security and National Defense Council, met with Saudi Arabia Defense Minister to discuss the end of the conflict.
According to Zelensky, a Ukrainian delegation is expected to meet with US responsible in New York on Friday.
However, Putin is expected to move to China next week to watch a large military parade. Other guests include North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as well as Russian Allied European leaders such as Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and Robert Fico from Slovakia.
Children sitting on the tour in front of a residential building in downtown Kiev hit by a Russian ballistic missile this Thursday. Pierre Crom/Getty Images
The attack on Kiev is the latest in a series of Russian attacks that hit the entire territory of Ukraine this week.
Ukrainian researchers confirmed on Tuesday that Russian troops in the Dnipropetrovsk region in southeastern Ukraine.
Russian forces currently occupy the villages of Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka, according to Deepstate.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces, in inferiority of staff and weapons, have been struggling to prevent Russian advances in much of the eastern region, as Moscow increases the pressure on Kiev to give territory in peace negotiations.
“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” Zelensky wrote at X after the latest night attacks. “Choose to continue killing instead of ending the war. And that means Russia does not yet fear the consequences.”
In his analysis of the latest Russian attacks on Kiev, Tkachenko said Kremlin has a typical “signature” involving “combined attacks from different directions” and aimed at “ordinary residential buildings.”
The military chief added that he has been used deceit missiles as false targets to confuse the Ukrainian defense systems.
Several residential buildings have been hit, as well as a kindergarten, non -residential blocks, offices, transport infrastructures and dozens of cars, according to the authorities.
According to the municipal authorities, national mourning was declared in the country on Friday. The flags will be raised at half rod and entertainment events will be canceled, according to the authorities.
Anna Chernova, CNN James Frater and Char Reck contributed to this report
