Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv killed at least 12 people and injured more than 30 overnight, Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday, as attacks damaged homes, warehouses, a school and a children’s hospital.
The strikes began around midnight and continued into Thursday morning. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said seven people died in the city’s Solomianskyi district, where the upper floors of a nine-storey residential building were destroyed and a fire broke out.
Klitschko said 12 people were killed across Kyiv and declared Friday a day of mourning. One more person was reported killed in the wider Kyiv region, bringing the reported death toll in the capital and surrounding area to at least 13.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched dozens of ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles as well as 168 drones during the overnight assault. The weapons included Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic missiles, Iskander and North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles and Shahed drones.
A children’s hospital in the Solomianskyi district suffered damage, with windows blown out and vehicles burning nearby. Warehouses, a school, a medical facility and other buildings were also hit.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces used missiles and drones against targets in Kyiv and the surrounding region. Moscow said it struck facilities producing drone components, a military depot, a logistics hub and other sites.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy linked the deaths to shortages in the country’s air defence system and renewed his calls for more interceptor missiles from Ukraine’s partners.
“As long as Ukraine does not have enough anti-ballistics, Russia will not seriously think about peace,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
Outside the capital, an attack in the Brovary district killed a man and wounded another person, according to regional authorities.
The overnight assault also prompted responses from Nato members bordering Ukraine.
Poland launched aircraft and activated air defence measures to protect its airspace. Romania scrambled two Spanish fighter jets serving on a Nato mission after radar detected aerial targets near the Ukrainian border.
Romania’s defence ministry said a drone entered Romanian airspace near Galati before crashing in an uninhabited area of Tulcea county. Moldova also reported that a drone crossed its airspace, Reuters reported.
The attack came amid an increase in long-range strikes by both Russia and Ukraine. Kyiv has targeted Russian oil facilities and logistics infrastructure in an effort to disrupt supplies supporting Moscow’s military operations.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 250 Ukrainian drones approached the Moscow region between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. He said most were destroyed before reaching the Russian capital.
Diplomatic efforts have not produced a ceasefire in the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Ukraine had submitted proposals for ending the war to US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Izvestia newspaper that Moscow had not received specific proposals for new meetings with US negotiators, Reuters reported.
HT