12 killed, 138 injured in Russia’s deadliest attack on Kyiv, Zelensky calls it ‘horrific’

Russia launched its deadliest missile and drone attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and wounding around 138 others. Officials said the death toll could rise, as rescue operations continue.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it “one of the most horrific attacks” on the Ukrainian capital since the full-scale war began in 2022.

A missile hit a nine-storey Soviet-era apartment block in the west of Kyiv and caused a partial collapse of the building.

Thirty apartments were destroyed in the strike, said the Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko. “There could be people under the rubble, and the number of dead may rise,” he said.

A 62-year-old US citizen was among those killed, Klitschko said. He also accused Russia of firing cluster bomblets filled with ball bearings to kill as many people as possible.

The strikes on Kyiv lasted more than nine hours—sending residents fleeing to underground shelters from before midnight until after sunrise. Officials said a total of 27 locations in the city came under fire.

Ukraine’s interior minister said the country was hit by 440 drones and 32 missiles.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said people were still under the rubble and rescue work was going on at two sites.

Loud explosions rocked the city along with the rattle of the machine guns used by mobile Ukrainian air defence units to shoot down drones.

Russia has intensified its air attacks against Ukrainian cities in recent weeks with a tactic of sending large waves of drones and decoys designed to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences.

Kyiv has launched attacks of its own, as direct talks between the warring sides failed to secure a ceasefire or significant breakthrough.

Russia accused Ukrainian forces of launching a missile strike on a district in occupied Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday.

Drone strikes also hit the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, killing two people and wounding 10 others, officials said.

President Zelensky, who is in Canada to attend the G7 summit, called Russia’s wave of strikes “pure terrorism”.

He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of carrying out the large-scale strikes “solely because he can afford to continue this war”.

“It is bad when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to this. It is the terrorists who should feel the pain, not normal, peaceful people,” he said.

Zelensky had been hoping to speak with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Tuesday, but Trump cut short his visit amid the crisis in the Middle East.