Russian attack on Kyiv kills 19, damages EU mission, and rips apartment block in two

“Glass was flying… we were screaming when the bombs went off,” Galina Shcherbak, who was at a parking lot close to one of the strikes, told AFP.

A resident walks past the British Council after a Russian ballistic missile struck a bank building in the city centre of Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo / Getty Images

Ukraine’s air force said Moscow fired 629 drones and missiles. That would make it the second-largest overnight barrage of the war, according to AFP analysis of Kyiv’s data.

Andriy, whose flat was destroyed in the strike, told AFP that he had only just made it out alive.

“If I had gone to the shelter a minute later, I would not be here now, I would have been buried.”

“I came out, could not hear anything, there was fog everywhere, and my left eye was completely covered in blood.”

A “rare” maritime drone attack by Russia on a Ukrainian naval forces vessel in the Black Sea also claimed at least one life while leaving several others wounded or missing, a Ukraine navy spokesperson said.

‘Diplomacy ruined’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack on Kyiv “a horrific and deliberate killing of civilians”.

People look at the destroyed residential apartment building after a Russian drone and missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo / Getty Images

“The Russians are not choosing to end the war, only new strikes,” he said on social media, calling for Moscow to face fresh sanctions.

“All deadlines have already been broken, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy ruined. Russia must feel accountable for every strike, for every day of this war,” he said.

Zelenskyy’s top aides are set to hold a meeting with Trump’s team in New York on Friday.

The Kremlin, which claimed to have targeted military sites, insisted it was still interested in diplomacy, but that its strikes would “continue”.

“The Russian armed forces are fulfilling their tasks,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to a question by AFP.

“They continue to strike military and military-adjacent infrastructure facilities.”

A man with dog stand in front of destroyed building after Russian drone-and-missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo / Getty Images

The European Union and British Government summoned Russia’s ambassadors after the barrage damaged the buildings of the EU’s mission and the British Council in Kyiv.

Offices of local media outlets were also damaged.

Inside the EU mission, AFP reporters saw blown-out windows and partially collapsed ceiling panels.

International condemnation was swift.

French President Emmanuel Macron slammed Russian “terror and barbarism”, saying on X: “This is Russia’s idea of peace.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “sabotaging hopes of peace”, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said “Russia showed its true face” with the strikes.

Firefighters extinguish a fire in a residential building partially destroyed by a Russian missile strike while search and rescue operation continues in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo / Getty Images

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen spoke with both Zelenskyy and Trump after the attacks, insisting afterwards that “Putin must come to the negotiating table”.

Stuttering diplomacy

Following a summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska earlier this month, the Kremlin has rebuffed attempts to reach a swift end to the fighting.

It has also ruled out Putin meeting with Zelenskyy any time soon.

Moscow is demanding Kyiv cede more territory and renounce Western military support as conditions for any peace deal – ultimatums ruled out by Ukraine.

Putin has rejected multiple ceasefire calls from Zelenskyy, Trump and European leaders.

Ukraine has long cast Russia as only paying lip service to the idea of halting its invasion.

A dog stands in front of burnt wreckage of cars and a residential building partially destroyed by a Russian missile strike while search and rescue operation continues in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo / Getty Images

Russian forces said on Thursday they had captured another small settlement in the eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a steady advance.

Before concluding any peace agreement, Ukraine wants security guarantees – including Western troop deployments – to deter future Russian attacks.

Moscow has pushed back against any Western military presence in Ukraine.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, following the attack on Kyiv, said on X that “we need to ensure Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself & secure a lasting peace”.

Kyiv meanwhile said it had hit two large refineries in Russia in its own overnight attacks – strikes it calls fair retaliation.

– Agence France-Presse