Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, killing at least 30 people, wounding scores more and damaging around 130 buildings in the deadliest attack on the capital this year.
Multiple explosions shook central Kyiv and reverberated across the capital throughout the night as thousands of residents rushed to bomb shelters and underground metro stations. Huge columns of smoke filled the skyline.
The death toll climbed to 30 after three more bodies were recovered from the rubble, Ukraine’s emergency service said. The head of the capital’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, earlier said 91 were injured.
He had earlier warned that the toll was likely to rise as rescue teams worked through the night, sifting through rubble in search of trapped residents.
He said teams at one site in an eastern suburb on the capital’s left bank of the Dnipro River had recovered five bodies while eight residents were unaccounted for.
“Rescue crews will work without interruption until all the debris is cleared,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, more victims may still be found.”
The scale and spread of destruction across the breadth of the capital had little precedent even in a war now in its fifth year. Twenty-four people died in an attack on Kyiv in May.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who cut short his visit to Ireland and rushed home, visited the site where a nine-storey residential building was half destroyed. He blamed the destruction in part on a failure of allies to deliver promised air defenses.
“If our partners had delivered on their promises in a timely manner, I think we could have saved more homes and lives today,” said Zelenskiy, who looked tired and frustrated. “All we ask of our partners is simply to do what we’ve agreed on. We’re not even asking for more.”
Later, in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said the issue of air defences would be “one of the key outcomes” of next week’s NATO summit in Turkey, as he repeated his call for the development of European air defences.
“If, of course, NATO still means anything to the allies,” he said. “Europe must have its own sufficient capability to defend against all types of threats, including this one – from Russian ballistic missiles.”
Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Yuri Ihnat, the Air Force spokesperson, said the number of ballistic missiles was unusually high and the interception rate was low. Ukraine has struggled with shortages of Patriot missiles in recent months.
The Russian Defence Ministry, in a Telegram post, said its “massive attack” using long-range, high-precision air-, land- and sea-launched weapons and drones hit military and energy facilities, as well as airports in Kyiv and other locations.
Moscow said the attacks were retaliation for Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia. Kyiv, which has stepped up strikes in recent weeks on Russia’s domestic fuel supply, said it had hit an oil refinery overnight in the Russian region of Nizhny Novgorod, where the governor reported one person killed in a strike on an industrial facility.
The Kremlin said Russian military commanders had briefed President Vladimir Putin about the Russian attacks, adding that Moscow would increase pressure to achieve its war aims.
DAY OF MOURNING ANNOUNCED IN KYIV
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a day of mourning in Kyiv for Friday. He said that damage was recorded across the city of about 3 million, with some buildings heavily damaged.
The Ukrainian Red Cross, in a post on X, said its humanitarian warehouse in Kyiv has been destroyed in the assault and posted pictures of a shattered building interior. It said 320,000 relief items had been lost, “affecting emergency response and humanitarian operations across Ukraine”.
Katarina Mathernova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, said that “Russia unleashed hell on Kyiv” overnight, and had struck accommodation used by diplomatic personnel. Diplomats were unharmed, but their belongings were damaged in a fire.
City officials said that the injured included children, paramedics and drivers at an ambulance station.
“Our house is on fire. Oleg was pulling our neighbour out of the burning house, while I was phoning all the emergency services during the explosions,” Kyiv resident Iryna Plekhova said on Facebook, posting a picture of a half-destroyed apartment building. “We do not have an apartment anymore.”
The National Institute of Biochemistry was among many buildings damaged: its state-of-the-art biochemistry laboratory and other offices were gutted during the attack.
“This is a catastrophe for medical and biological science of Ukraine,” biologist Yurii Danylovych told Reuters.
Ukraine’s neighbour Poland, a NATO and EU member, briefly scrambled fighter jets as a preventive measure. Finland also briefly issued a temporary aviation restriction zone in the eastern Gulf of Finland, its defence forces said.
