Russian strikes kill 15 in 'one of the most horrific attacks' of Ukraine war

Zelenskyy urges world against turning 'blind eye' to aggression amid Israel-Iran conflict

Residents gather at the site of a Russian strike on Kyiv. Reuters

At least 15 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a major Russian attack on Ukraine.

Kyiv was hit by 440 drones and 32 missiles in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “one of the most horrific attacks” on his country.

"It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it,” Mr Zelenskyy said, as the focus of the international community shifts to the conflict between Israel and Iran.

At least 27 locations in Kyiv were hit, including residential buildings, educational institutions and infrastructure, in one of the biggest attacks of the three-year war. Residents were forced to flee to underground shelters during the nine-hour Russian attack, which began just before midnight.

A ballistic missile struck a nine-storey residential building in the Solomianskyi district of the Ukrainian capital, flattening a whole section of it. Explosions could be heard across the city, along with the sound of machinegun fire by mobile air defence units aiming to shoot down drones.

Rescuers carry a body out of an apartment building in Kyiv after the major Russian attack. Reuters

Efforts by emergency workers to pull survivors from the debris were hampered by air raid sirens. Kyiv City Military Administration chief Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured.

The attack drew widespread condemnation among Ukraine's allies. France said it pointed to the "cruelty and cynicism" of Russian President Vladimir Putin and demonstrated Moscow was not fit to mediate in the conflict between Iran and Israel.

A Russian offer to mediate in the crisis was backed by US President Donald Trump on Sunday. "To the Kremlin, which would like to make peace in the Middle East: start with Ukraine," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X.

The overnight Russian drone strikes also struck the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, killing one person and injuring 17, said Oleh Kiper, head of the regional administration. Mr Zelenskyy described the attacks as “pure terrorism”.

“The whole world, the United States and Europe must finally respond as a civilised society responds to terrorists," he said. "Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war."

Mr Zelenskyy was in Canada to attend the G7 summit, hoping to gather more support for tighter sanctions against Russia and continued military aid for Ukraine.

He also hoped to meet Mr Trump to discuss weapons purchases, but the US President left the summit a day early due to the tension in the Middle East, the White House said.

Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak criticised what he claimed was an inadequate global reaction to Russia's deadly strikes.

Part of an apartment block reduced to rubble by the Russian attack. EPA

"This is how Russia fights – it kills civilians in ordinary homes, deliberately," he said. "This is how autocracies fight. A nuclear power can simply kill civilians in homes, refuse to cease fire, and not receive the necessary reaction from the civilised world. Why? And how many more of our people and children must die?"

Emergency workers have searched the rubble and doused fires with hoses. They used a crane and a stretcher to lower an injured elderly woman out of the window of one building hit in the attacks.

"I have never seen anything like this before. It is simply horrific,” said Viktoriia Vovchenko, 57, who lives nearby. “When they started pulling people out, everyone was cut up – elderly people and children. I do not know how long they can continue to torment us, ordinary people.”