At least 12 people were killed and 33 wounded in a Russian missile barrage that struck 12 locations across Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Thursday. The overnight strikes damaged residential buildings, a medical facility, and an educational institution, with emergency crews working to pull people from the rubble.
In the Solomianskyi district, the top two floors of a nine-story residential building were destroyed, and fires broke out on other floors. Residents were also reported trapped in two residential buildings and a school shelter.
Larysa Bondaruk, a 60-year-old resident whose apartment was severely damaged, described the attack as incredibly loud, with debris and doors blown out. "There were columns of smoke, columns of fire, screams, crying and despair," she said. Firefighters rescued her cat, Chanel, and responded quickly to the scene, she added.
Authorities noted that Russia has intensified ballistic missile attacks on the capital, a tactic aimed at depleting Kyiv's air defense stocks. Ukraine's air defense systems, particularly those capable of intercepting ballistic threats, are limited, and supplies of missiles for U.S.-made systems like the Patriot remain constrained. President Trump had previously authorized Ukraine to obtain licenses for Patriot air defense system production but later reversed that decision.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has increased its own long-range strikes targeting weapons depots, military facilities, and other strategic sites within Russian territory, aiming to degrade Moscow's capacity to sustain attacks on Ukrainian cities.
