Massive Russian Strikes On Kyiv Kill 15, Including Children, As Peace Talks Stall

 

Kyiv endured one of the deadliest nights of the war as Russia launched a massive assault of drones and missiles, killing at least 15 people, including four children, according to Ukrainian officials.

The victims included children aged 2, 14, and 17, while at least 10 more children were injured, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia unleashed 629 aerial weapons overnight — 598 drones and 31 missiles. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its targets were “military-industrial enterprises and air bases,” describing the attack as conducted with “high-precision weapons.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes as a “horrific and deliberate killing of civilians.” He said the barrage was a “clear response” to global calls for a ceasefire and diplomacy.

Emergency teams scrambled to respond, with around 500 rescuers and 1,000 police officers deployed across the city. Among the damaged sites was a building housing the European Union mission to Ukraine, a British Council office, and the Kyiv bureau of Radio Liberty.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the strikes “another grim reminder of what is at stake,” pledging more sanctions and confirming the EU will summon Russia’s envoy in Brussels. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also condemned the assault, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin was “killing children and civilians, and sabotaging hopes of peace.”

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of deliberately targeting diplomats in violation of international law.

Residents Trapped Amid Rubble

Local residents described harrowing scenes. Vitaliy Protsiuk, who survived the collapse of his residential building, said his wife remains missing. “When I came out, everything was covered in dust and smoke. I looked up — the roof was gone, and the floors from the fourth to the first were completely destroyed,” he said.

Agency photos showed residents huddling overnight in subway stations as air raid sirens blared for more than nine hours.

Several high-rise apartment buildings, a kindergarten, offices, transport infrastructure, and even a city-center shopping mall were damaged, officials said. Fires raged in multiple districts, prompting Ukraine’s State Emergency Service to deploy aircraft to help extinguish the blazes.

Political and Military Fallout

The assault comes just over two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump met face-to-face with Putin in an attempt to revive peace talks — discussions that have since stalled. A White House-backed push for direct talks between Zelensky and Putin has yet to materialize.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials continue to seek international mediation. Senior aides to Zelensky met Saudi Arabia’s defense minister this week, while a Ukrainian delegation is scheduled to meet U.S. officials in New York on Friday. Putin, in contrast, is set to travel to China for a large-scale military parade attended by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and other Russia-friendly leaders.

On the battlefield, Russian forces have captured two villages in southeastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, according to open-source monitoring groups. Ukraine’s military, stretched thin and outgunned, has struggled to halt Moscow’s advances in the east.

Zelensky said Russia’s latest actions prove it still chooses “ballistics instead of the negotiating table” and “killing instead of ending the war.”