Kyiv, June 18: At least 15 people were killed and 116 others injured in a Russian missile and drone strike on Ukraine overnight, with the main assault targeting the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people died and 99 were injured in the capital, where a nine-storey residential building was demolished, destroying dozens of apartments and triggering a massive rescue operation. The attack marked one of the deadliest barrages on Kyiv in recent months, as the conflict entered its fourth year.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Odesa killed one person and wounded 17 others, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.
“It’s one of the most terrifying strikes on Kyiv,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement, adding that Russia launched more than 440 drones and 32 missiles across Ukraine overnight. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said a U.S. citizen was among the dead, killed by shrapnel. He added that 30 apartments in a single Kyiv building were destroyed by a ballistic missile strike.
“We have 27 locations that were attacked by the enemy. More than 2,000 emergency personnel, including rescuers, police and doctors, are working across the city,” Klymenko told reporters.
Residents described being jolted awake by explosions as air-raid sirens sounded throughout the night. “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life,” said Olena Lapyshniak, 49, a Kyiv resident whose apartment building was severely damaged. “There’s no military infrastructure here, nothing. Just homes.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said fires broke out in two districts due to debris from intercepted drones.
The attacks come amid heightened diplomatic activity at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada, which Zelenskyy is attending. U.S. President Donald Trump, who was expected to meet Zelenskyy on Tuesday, cut his visit short and returned to Washington late Monday, citing Middle East tensions.
The strike also follows recent Ukrainian operations targeting Russian air bases deep inside Russia, part of an intensifying tit-for-tat strategy. Russia has sharply increased the pace and scale of its drone and missile attacks in recent weeks.
Zelenskyy blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for prolonging the war. “He wants the war to go on. It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it,” Zelenskyy said. Direct peace talks in Istanbul have so far produced little beyond plans for a prisoner exchange expected next week, according to Ukrainian officials.
