14 killed in deadliest Russian strikes on Kyiv in almost a year
Russia launched a barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles on Kyiv overnight into Tuesday, killing more than a dozen people in one of its biggest attacks on the Ukrainian capital.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said at least 14 people were killed in Kyiv, and more than 100 injured.
One strike hit a multi-story residential building, splitting it in two and leaving a huge gap where dozens of homes were just moments before. Five lifeless bodies were pulled out of the rubble by Tuesday midday, with rescue operations continuing into the afternoon.
Victoria, who lives in the building and didn't want to share her last name, said she spent part of the night sheltering in her bathroom, the safest place in the apartment, listening to Russian drones flying overhead. When she thought the attack was over, she went back to bed – only to be woken by a loud explosion.
'The windows were blown out. It was very scary. Adrenaline was pumping. Just survival instincts. I tried to get out of the apartment, but my neighbors' doors were blocking my door,' she told CNN, adding that she only realized her building had been hit when her neighbors managed to clear the door and she fled to the street.
'I thought I was ready to die and wasn't afraid of anything. But today I realized that I'm scared. For the first time, I was scared,' said Victoria, who fled her home in Luhansk in eastern Ukraine after Russia occupied it in 2014.
Oleksandr Ustenko, who lives with his family on the second floor of the same building, told CNN he heard drones flying overhead throughout the night.
'Then we heard a sound of a missile. At some point, everything started shaking, the ceiling shook, and the door was blown out,' he said, adding that as they ran into the hallway, everything around them was on fire.
'We barely made it to the street. We are still here. The apartment is almost destroyed, our car is destroyed.'
The Russian assault was the deadliest on the capital in almost a year, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian officials initially said 15 people were killed in Kyiv, later revising the number down. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said in a statement that the higher death toll reported earlier was due to the nature of the injuries caused, with search and rescue workers recording body parts belonging to one person as separate victims.
The ministry said rescue operations were ongoing as of Tuesday evening, as more people were believed to be in the rubble.
Two other people were killed in attacks on the southern port city of Odessa.
'Last night's attack was the fourth time this month that Russian armed forces launched more than 400 munitions in a single night. By comparison, Russian armed forces launched 544 long-range munitions during the entire month in June 2024,' the HRMMU said in a statement.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said in a Telegram post that residential buildings and other infrastructure were severely damaged.
'We hope that no dead will be found under the rubble, but we cannot rule it out,' he added. 'The death toll may increase.'
Klitschko said in the message that a US citizen was killed in the Solomyanskyi district of Kyiv overnight. The mayor said the person was 62 years old and 'died in a house opposite to the one where medics were providing assistance to the victims,' without giving any more details.
Later Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce confirmed a US citizen was among those killed in Kyiv.
'We condemn those strikes and extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected,' Bruce said at a State Department briefing, adding the department was 'ready to provide all possible consular assistance' to the family of the American who was killed.
Despite the civilian deaths and evidence of direct strikes on residential buildings, the Russian defense ministry said on Tuesday that it targeted 'military-industrial complex facilities in the Kyiv region and Zaporizhzhia.'
The Ukrainian Air Force said 440 drones and 32 missiles were launched at Ukraine overnight and added that it manage to destroy 428 of them.
Russia has ramped up its airborne attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, launching as many as 479 drones and missiles in a single night. Ukrainian officials say these assaults are not just bigger and more frequent; they are also more concentrated and executed in a way that makes them a lot more difficult to combat – as they are flown at higher altitudes, out of reach of machine guns.
Some 27 locations in different districts of Kyiv came under fire in the latest attack, according to a statement from Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs, Ihor Klymenko.
'Rescuers, police and medics are working. They are doing everything they can to help the victims, clear the rubble and save lives,' he said.
The strikes come as US President Donald Trump announced he would return to Washington a day early from the Group of 7 summit in Canada.
His early departure means he will miss a key meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the event.
It would have been the leaders' third meeting since Trump took office in January.
Ukrainian officials had been hoping that a positive interaction with Trump could advance Kyiv's case amid Moscow's intensifying attacks.
Meanwhile, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu arrived in Pyongyang on a 'special mission' from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Shoigu is scheduled to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Tass reported Tuesday.
Pyongyang has continued support for Moscow's war on Ukraine as world leaders push for an end to the three-year conflict.
North Korea has sent soldiers and millions of munitions, including missiles and rockets, to Russia over the past year, according to a May report by an international watchdog, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team.
The US has warned that Russia may be close to sharing advanced space and satellite technology with North Korea in exchange for continued support for the war in Ukraine.
Under Trump, the US has been less willing to equip badly outgunned Ukraine directly, has pushed European partners to pick up more of the support and threatened to walk away altogether from peace talks.
This story has been updated.
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