In a significant escalation, Russia launched a comprehensive missile and drone assault on Kyiv early Monday, resulting in at least nine fatalities and injuring 46 individuals, including five children, according to Ukrainian officials. With rescue operations still ongoing, authorities cautioned that the death toll might increase.
The attack inflicted substantial damage on residential structures throughout the Ukrainian capital. Emergency services reported that at least 15 apartment buildings suffered damage or were destroyed. Among them was a nine-story residential block in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district, where rescue teams are actively working to extricate individuals trapped in the debris.
Additional casualties were reported, including one person killed in the Bucha district, situated northwest of Kyiv. Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged the “massive” strike, stating that long-range missiles and drones were employed to target military, energy, and airfield infrastructure in Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions.
This latest wave of attacks comes on the heels of another severe Russian offensive that claimed at least 27 lives in Kyiv, marking one of the year’s deadliest incidents in the city.
Parallel to these developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed ongoing conflicts near the strategic town of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, dismissing Russian assertions that the town had been seized.