Rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike on a nine-story residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday. At least 31 people were killed in Kyiv, and dozens more were injured, as Russia launched a countrywide overnight attack with drones and missiles, the State Emergency Service said. Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA
Russian drones and missiles hit Kyiv in a barrage killing 31 and collapsing an apartment block.
Three of the dead were children, ages 3, 6, and 17, Ukraine’s interior ministry said. About 159 others were injured.
Russia has continued its attacks despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to give Russia tougher sanctions if it doesn’t agree to a ceasefire by Aug. 8.
“Both Russia and Ukraine must negotiate a ceasefire and durable peace. It is time to make a deal,” said acting U.S. acting representative to the United Nations John Kelley to the UN Security Council on Thursday.
Senior police lieutenant Liliia Stepanchuk, a patrol officer who had served in Kyiv’s police force since 2017, was killed in the attack. Her body was recovered from the rubble in Sviatoshynskyi district during rescue operations, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Three police officers and 12 children were among the injured. Thirty people, including five children, are hospitalized, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. First responders are still working at the scenes of the attacks.
Klitschko said the number of children injured was the highest recorded in the city since the beginning of the war. The deadliest attack on the capital was in December 2023, when 33 people were killed.
Russian forces launched more than 300 drones and eight missiles against Ukraine overnight, targeting Kyiv and other regions, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Aug. 1 has been declared a Day of Mourning in Kyiv. Flags will be flown at half-staff on all city buildings.
“Today, the world once again saw Russia’s response to our desire for peace, shared with America and Europe,” Zelensky said in the wake of Friday’s attacks. “But forcing Moscow to make peace, compelling them to come to a real negotiating table – all the tools needed for this are in the hands of our partners.”
Trump had previously offered a 50-day window earlier this month before the United States would impose 100% tariffs on Russia and its trading partners if Moscow fails to reach a peace deal with Ukraine. But during a press conference Monday at Turnberry in Scotland, Trump shortened that to a “new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today.”
