Russian Strikes Kill at Least 20 in Ukraine Including in Kyiv

Russian drone and missile strikes killed at least 20 people across Ukraine on Thursday including at least 16 in the capital Kyiv where two children were among the dead. Rescuers pulled bodies from the rubble of a partially destroyed apartment building in the city's south-western Darnytskyi district and continued searching for at least 20 people feared missing.

Officials declared Friday a day of mourning in Kyiv. The overnight barrage involved more than 670 drones and 56 missiles targeting over 180 sites nationwide including more than 50 residential buildings. Ukrainian officials said a total of more than 1,560 Russian drones had targeted cities since Tuesday night.

They described the assault as among the largest since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. In Kyiv emergency services reported 47 people injured including two children. Police recovered the bodies of two men aged 21 and 30 and an unidentified woman from the destroyed entrance of the nine-storey apartment block.

A 12-year-old girl was found dead in rubble of a nearby house and another child was later confirmed killed. A man also died in hospital after a petrol station was hit. The apartment block was struck by a Kh-101 cruise missile according to officials.

Search teams moved more than 20 cubic metres of debris evacuated five damaged vehicles and rescued dozens of people alive from the site where more than 1,500 rescuers and police officers worked overall. The strikes damaged other residential buildings a school a veterinary clinic and infrastructure disrupting the city's water supply.

Officials reported seven people injured in the Kyiv region 28 injured in Kharkiv and two injured in Odesa. The mayor visited the attack site as rescue operations continued.

Both sides had reported violations during the truce mostly along the frontline but no large aerial attacks occurred then. Russia resumed strikes on Tuesday killing nine people followed by six more deaths in a major attack on Wednesday that involved 892 drones.

Officials said an overall interception rate of 93 percent was achieved for drones while 73 percent of missiles were intercepted. They identified defense against Russian ballistic missiles as the key remaining challenge. Ukrainian leaders stated that securing more anti-ballistic systems and missiles for them had become the top priority citing a shortage of U.S.-made Patriot systems.

“This is definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end.”

The attacks coincided with a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping. One minister noted that the leaders of the United States and China have enough leverage over Moscow to press for an end to the war. The EU Commission President accused Moscow of indiscriminately targeting civilians and announced progress on a €6 billion drone support package for Ukraine along with additional sanctions on Russia's war economy.

The prime minister said the country urgently needed help strengthening its air defenses calling it the only way to save people and cities. Officials reiterated requests for additional Patriot systems and anti-ballistic capabilities. Residents near the Kyiv strike site described the building shaking violently with one woman who had recently returned to Ukraine after two years abroad saying the quiet period beforehand had led her to consider moving back permanently before the latest strikes.

The latest violence comes as the war has reached a stalemate on the frontline. Putin had suggested after the Victory Day parade that the conflict could be drawing to a close but large-scale aerial attacks resumed immediately after the ceasefire ended.

In a separate development a court in Kyiv ordered 60 days of pretrial detention for a former senior official in a corruption case involving a luxury construction project though that individual denied the charges. The emergency service and interior ministry coordinated the large-scale response across multiple regions.

Teams erected tents for displaced residents who sat wrapped in blankets near the rubble. Officials said the scale of the two-day assault exceeded recent patterns and prompted fresh calls for allies to hold Moscow accountable.