Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones into apartment buildings in Kyiv on Monday, killing at least 24 people, just hours before a critical NATO summit was set to begin in Turkiye. The attack marked the second such strike in a week, following a previous assault that killed over 30 in the Ukrainian capital.
Details of the Attack
Ukrainian authorities reported that 16 people were killed in the capital, and another eight died in Vyshneve, a town just outside Kyiv. More than 100 people were wounded in the strikes, which targeted residential areas. The morning strike punched a crater into a multi-story apartment block in Kyiv's Podilsky district, ripping its floors in two. AFP reporters heard more than 10 explosions during a ballistic missile alert at night, with flashes in the sky as the blasts rang out.
President Volodymyr Zelensky decried the “brutal strike,” saying that “the Russians’ tactics are unchanged: to inflict as much pain and damage as possible on Ukrainians and on Ukraine.” He noted that Russia fired 68 missiles — “many of them ballistic” — and 351 attack drones.
Plea for Air Defense
Zelensky, who was expected to hold talks with US counterpart Donald Trump at the NATO summit, pleaded for the alliance to boost Ukraine’s air defense against Russia’s ballistic missiles. He said Kyiv was successful in shooting down drones and cruise missiles but had “not enough means of defense” against hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles. “It is simply absurd that in the modern world, production has still not been organized to the extent that is necessary to protect people from ballistic terror,” he said in the aftermath of the strikes. He added that Kyiv expected “decisions” on Ukrainian air defense at the NATO summit.
Earlier, NATO chief Mark Rutte said in Ankara: “Allies and NATO partners must continue to ensure Ukraine gets what it needs.”
Impact on Civilians
Emergency workers sifted through destroyed apartments and carried out bodies on white sheets. A woman screamed as rescuers pulled a body from the eighth floor of a building. Oleksandr Kolomiyets, 60, told AFP outside the destroyed building in the Podilsky district: “I felt the need to pray.” Anna Misko, a 36-year-old who recently returned to Ukraine, said she and her child had survived by a “miracle” as they went down to the ground floor. Russia “wants to destroy us,” she said, adding that “there is no place” that is safe in Ukraine.
Kyiv resident Oleksandr Seleznyov said the war had reached a “new phase.” “I think the Russians want to make Kyiv uninhabitable for civilians.” Around 30 residential buildings in Kyiv were hit, officials said. In the Kyiv region of Vyshneve, authorities said they evacuated around 500 people after the strikes.
Russia's Justification and Ukraine's Response
Russia’s defense ministry said the “massive strike” had targeted what it described as “military-industrial enterprises,” fuel and energy facilities in several Ukrainian regions. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army said it had struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Omsk region, around 2,500 kilometers from Ukraine’s border, in one of its deepest hits during the almost four-and-a-half-year war. Zelensky said Kyiv used “upgraded Fire Point drones” for the strike. “Siberia is now also within reach of Ukrainian precision,” he said. Ukraine’s general staff said the Omsk refinery was “involved in supplying the Russian occupation army.” The governor of Omsk confirmed the refinery had been hit by drones, saying there were no casualties. Moscow’s army said its forces had shot down more than 500 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Diplomatic Context
US-led attempts to broker an end to the war have gone nowhere. The White House said Trump would meet Zelensky Wednesday during the NATO summit. “The president’s obviously getting together with him to talk about how we can end the war. That’s been a priority of his for a long time,” a senior US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said Trump would “follow up” with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
