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Kyiv, Ukraine — A massive Russian drone and missile attack hit Ukraine's capital early Thursday, including a rare strike in the center of the city, killing at least 15 people including four children, a city official said. It was the first major Russian combined attack on Kyiv in weeks, and it comes as to end struggle to gain traction.
"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," President Volodymyr in a social media post. "The Russians are not choosing to end the war, only new strikes... It is crucial now that the world responds firmly. Russia must stop this war it started and continues. For the spurning of ceasefire and for the constant Russian attempts to weasel out of negotiations, new strong sanctions are needed. Only this can work. The Russians understand only strength and pressure."
Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's city administration, later said 15 people were killed, including four children between the ages of 2 and 17, and at least 48 others wounded in the attack.
Russia launched 598 strike drones and decoys and 31 missiles of different types across the country, according to Ukraine's Air Force, making it one of the largest attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukraine's forces shot down and neutralized all but 41 of the weapons, its Air Force said.
Zelenskyy said dozens of buildings, including homes, offices and other civilian enterprises were among those hit by the Russian assault, as well as a building "where the European Union Delegation to Ukraine is located."
"Horrified by yet another night of deadly Russian missile attacks on Ukraine," European Council President Antonio Costa said on social media. "My thoughts are with the Ukrainian victims and also with the staff of @EUDelegationUA whose building was damaged in this deliberate Russian strike. The EU will not be intimidated."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was also quick to condemn the attack, and he reiterated Zelenskyy's assertion that it showed Russia was not interested in peace.
"Putin is killing children and civilians, and sabotaging hopes of peace," in a social media post. "This bloodshed must end."
Moscow denies targeting civilians but has increased strikes in the last few months on cities and towns a long way from the war's front lines. In a statement posted on social media, Russia's defense ministry claimed Thursday that its forces had launched a strike overnight "against military-industrial complex enterprises and military airbases in Ukraine."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated the claim that Russia had successfully hit military and military-related infrastructure in Ukraine, adding: "At the same time, Russia remains interested in continuing the negotiation process in order to achieve our goals through political and diplomatic means."
According to Tkachenko, the attack included drones, decoy drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, striking at least 20 locations across seven districts of the capital.
Russian strikes hit the central part of Kyiv, one of the few times Russian attacks have reached the heart of the city since the start of the full-scale invasion. Residents cleared shattered glass and debris from damaged buildings. Smoke billowed from the crumbled column of a five-story residential building in the Darnytskyi district that suffered a direct hit. An acrid stench of burning material wafted in the air as firefighters worked to contain the blaze.
Amid the destruction, emergency responders searched for survivors and extracted bodies. Crowds of residents stood nearby, waiting for relatives to be retrieved from the rubble. Bodies in black bags were placed at the side of the building.
Residents in the neighborhood said it wasn't the first time their district was targeted.
Oleksandr Khilko arrived at the scene after a missile hit the residential building where his sister lives. He heard screams from people who were trapped under the rubble and pulled out three survivors, including a boy.
"It's inhuman, striking civilians," he said, his clothes covered in dust and the tips of his fingers black with soot. "With every cell of my body I want this war to end as soon as possible. I wait, but every time the air raid alarm sounds, I am afraid."
Thursday's attack was the first major combined Russian drone and missile on Kyiv since President earlier this month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
While a diplomatic push for peace appeared to gain momentum shortly after that meeting, few details have emerged about next steps.
Western leaders, along with Zelenskyy, have accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts and avoiding serious negotiations while Russian troops move deeper into Ukraine. This week, Ukrainian military leaders conceded Russian forces had broken into an eighth region of Ukraine seeking to capture more ground.
Zelenskyy hopes for harsher U.S. sanctions to cripple the Russian economy if Putin doesn't demonstrate seriousness about ending the war — demands that he reiterated following Thursday's attack.
"All deadlines have already been broken, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy ruined," Zelenskyy said.
Mr. Trump bristled this week at Putin's stalling on an American proposal for direct peace talks with Zelenskyy. He said Friday that he expects to decide on next steps in two weeks if direct talks — which Moscow has thus far ruled out — aren't scheduled. The previous day, Mr. on Ukraine's use of American-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia.
In a post on his own social media platform, Mr. Trump said it was, "very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. ... There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia."
He said his predecessor, Joe Biden, "would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND," adding, without any further explanation, that there were, "Interesting times ahead!!!"
In November, just weeks before he handed the presidency back to Mr. Trump, Biden that had effectively barred Ukraine from using U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deep in Russia. While no announcement has been made, The over the weekend that the Pentagon had "for months been blocking Ukraine's use of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia."
Russia's Ministry of Defense said Thursday it shot down 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, meanwhile, mostly in the country's southwest. A drone attack sparked a blaze at the Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, local officials said, while a second fire was reported at the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Samara region.
Ukrainian drones have repeatedly struck refineries and other oil infrastructure in recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Russia's war economy, causing gas stations in some Russian regions to run dry and prices to spike.
