At least 16 people, including a 12-year-old child, were killed and dozens injured after large-scale drone and missile strikes by Russia hit several cities across Ukraine overnight, officials said on Thursday.
The capital Kyiv was among the worst affected, where fires broke out in multiple locations and thick black smoke filled the night sky as emergency crews battled to control the blazes. In the morning, residents and rescue teams were seen clearing debris from heavily damaged buildings.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people, including a child, were killed in the city, while prosecutors reported that at least 54 others were injured.
Further south, nine people were killed in strikes on Odesa, while two more fatalities were reported in the southeastern city of Dnipro, according to regional authorities.
Zelensky calls for tougher action
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks demonstrated that Moscow did not deserve any easing of international pressure.
“There can be no normalisation of Russia as it is today,” he said, adding that sanctions and military assistance for Ukraine should not be delayed.
Ukraine’s air force said its defence systems intercepted or neutralised 31 missiles and 636 drones launched by Russian forces. However, 12 missiles and 20 drones still struck targets during the 24-hour period ending early Thursday.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said rescue operations were continuing and the death toll could rise.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged the international community to increase pressure on Moscow.
“It is immoral, counterproductive and dangerous to delay sanctions against Russia or support packages for Ukraine,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Heavy damage in Kyiv
Klitschko said Kyiv came under another attack early Thursday when a drone flying at low altitude crashed into an 18-storey residential building.
Rescue teams pulled a mother and child from a heavily damaged building in a central district, while missile debris struck the sixth floor of an apartment block in the city’s Podil area.
A major fire also broke out in a northern district of the capital, and four emergency medical workers were injured while responding to the incident.
Attacks in Odesa and Dnipro
In Odesa, officials said nine people were killed and 23 injured after missile and drone strikes hit a high-rise residential building.
Regional governor Serhiy Lysak reported that the city endured several waves of attacks overnight, which damaged residential buildings as well as port and critical infrastructure facilities.
In Dnipro, regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said two people were killed and 30 injured in evening and overnight strikes that set residential buildings on fire. Another man was killed and four people injured elsewhere in the surrounding region.
In Kharkiv in the northeast, officials said at least two people were injured in drone attacks.
The latest assault marks one of the deadliest waves of Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities this year, intensifying calls from Kyiv for stronger international action against Moscow.