KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a sweeping and deadly barrage of missiles and drone strikes on Ukraine early Thursday, an assault that a U.S. special envoy said undermined President Donald Trump’s peace efforts.
According to Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, at least 23 people were killed in the capital, and rescue efforts were still underway as of 11 p.m. local time. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump “was not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised,” noting that the two countries had been at war for a long time.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike the second-largest attack since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, labeling it Moscow’s answer to diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg commented on X: “The targets? Not soldiers and weapons but residential areas in Kyiv – blasting civilian trains, the EU & British mission council offices, and innocent civilians.”
Following the attack, the European Union and Britain summoned Russian envoys to protest, though there were no reports of casualties at either site. Zelenskiy also reported that the strikes damaged a Turkish enterprise and the Azerbaijan embassy.
Leavitt told a regular briefing that Trump would have more to say about the situation later. She also acknowledged that the Russian attacks had been deadly and that Ukrainian attacks had done significant damage to Russian oil refineries in August.
“Perhaps both sides of this war are not ready to end it themselves,” she said. “The president wants it to end but the leaders of these two countries need it to end and want it to end.”
The strikes took place less than two weeks after Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska, a meeting the U.S. president had hoped would advance his peace efforts.
“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” Zelenskiy said on X, calling for new sanctions. “It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its attack had hit military-industrial facilities and air bases, and that Ukraine had also attacked Russian targets. The Kremlin maintained that it was still interested in pursuing peace talks.
Moscow has regularly denied targeting civilians, but Ukrainian officials state that scores of civilians have died in Russian strikes on densely populated areas in recent months, and thousands since the start of the war.
During the attack on Kyiv, explosions and the whirring of drones filled the night sky. Mayor Vitali Klitschko described it as one of the biggest attacks on the city in recent months. Officials reported that at least 63 people were wounded in the hours-long assault, which damaged buildings in all of the city’s districts.
Across the country, Ukraine’s military said Russian attacks struck 13 locations, and national grid operator Ukrenergo reported that energy facilities were hit, causing power cuts.
Despite the push by Ukraine and its allies to end the invasion, little has been accomplished, even after Trump’s recent meetings with Putin and Zelenskiy. Russia has ramped up air strikes on Ukrainian cities far behind the front lines in an effort to pressure Ukraine into giving up territory.
Another grim reminder
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the attack “another grim reminder of what is at stake.” She told reporters in Brussels, “It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine, blindly killing civilians and even targeting the European Union.” She added that two missiles struck near the EU office within 20 seconds of each other.
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Von der Leyen said EU countries would soon introduce a 19th package of sanctions against Russia and were advancing work on how to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. “We discussed our diplomatic efforts to stop the killings, to end this unprovoked Russian aggression, and to guarantee real security for our people,” Zelenskiy wrote on X after talks with von der Leyen.
Zelenskiy also stated that he had discussed security guarantees with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, which would be put on paper next week. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the assault, which he said had damaged the British Council building. “Putin is killing children and civilians and sabotaging hopes of peace,” he wrote on X.
Ukraine’s military said its air defenses had downed 563 of nearly 600 drones and 26 of 31 missiles launched by Russia. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defenses destroyed 102 Ukrainian drones overnight in at least seven regions, and Ukraine’s drone force said it had struck the Afipsky and Kuybyshevskyi oil refineries as part of that attack.
