The death toll from Russia’s large-scale drone and missile attack on Ukraine, one of the largest attacks in the past four years, rose to 24 people, Ukrainian emergency services said on Friday. Dozens of others were injured.
The attack, which primarily targeted the capital Kyiv, began as a rare daytime attack on Wednesday and continued into Thursday.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 675 attack drones and 56 missiles, mainly at Kyiv, adding its air defence units had downed 652 of the drones and 41 missiles.
The attack targeted homes, residential apartment blocks and other civilian infrasturcture.
In Kyiv’s Darnytsia neighbourhood, emergency workers searched under concrete slabs to help rescue people after a nine-storey residential building collapsed, destroying all 18 apartments in the building.
Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko reported nine people were killed, including a 12-year-old girl. About 20 were people believed to be missing.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko declared Friday as a day of mourning for the victims. Flags will be flown at half-mast and entertainments events will be prohibited.
The southern regions of Odesa and Kherson, and the eastern region of Kharkiv also came under fire by Russia.
Several EU leaders condemned the attack and voiced support for Ukraine.
“Another night of death and destruction. And the indiscriminate targeting of civilians,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X.
“While Russia openly mocks diplomatic efforts, we continue to strengthen Ukraine. We are finalising a €6 billion drone support package,” she added.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Russia’s attack “laid bare all the hypocrisy with which it negotiated the fragile truce of the past few days.”
“By bombing civilians, Russia demonstrates less its strength than its weakness: it is running out of solutions on the military front and does not know how to end its war of aggression,” Macron added.
“Russia’s heaviest attacks on Ukraine in a long time send a clear message: Moscow is choosing escalation over negotiation,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on X.
Ukraine launches overnight attack at Ryazan
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military launched a large-scale attack overnight into Friday on military and energy infrastructure in several parts of Russia, local media reported.
The attack killed three people and wounded at least 12, Russian officials said.
Clouds of smoke were seen billowing over Ryazan, where residents reported drones flying overhead and several explosions.
Videos circulating online also appear to show a fire breaking out at what is believed to be the Ryazan oil refinery, one of the largest refineries in the country, media reported.
Additional sources • AFP