Europe reacted with anger after Russia unleashed one of the most intense missile and drone attacks on Kyiv so far this year, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens.
Several explosions shook central Kyiv and reverberated across the capital throughout the night as thousands of residents rushed to bomb shelters and underground metro stations.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the “massive strike” was against defence industry and energy complexes in the city and in response to Ukrainian attacks.
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said only sustained military support for Ukraine and increased pressure on Moscow could help stop Russian attacks.
“Today, I will propose to sanction more entities supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex in response to the strikes,” she said in a post on X. “The more Moscow attacks civilians, the more sanctions must be imposed.”
In February, the EU adopted sanctions to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, include a ban on primary aluminium imports, sales of gaming consoles and the listing of 73 shadow fleet vessels.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the latest attacks demonstrated that Russian President Vladimir Putin “shows no willingness to negotiate”. Continued support for Ukraine’s defence will be a focus of next week’s Nato summit in Turkey, it said.
Ukraine's neighbour Poland, a Nato and EU member, briefly scrambled fighter jets as a preventive measure. Finland also briefly issued a temporary aviation restriction zone in the eastern Gulf of Finland, its defence forces said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks showed that supplies of air defences to Ukraine remained “an absolute and critical priority”.
“It is especially important that we move forward with implementing our agreements on the production of anti-ballistic capabilities,” Mr Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “We also very much count on a decision by the United States regarding licences for Patriots and other forms of co-operation.”
Ukraine’s Air Defence said Russia used ballistic and cruise missiles in the overnight assault on Kyiv as well as jet-powered drones. Strikes were also reported in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Cherkasy regions. According to military data, Ukraine shot down 48 out of 74 missiles and 476 out of 496 drones.
At least 86 people were injured with 70 in hospitalised after attacks across the city of about three million people, with some buildings heavily damaged, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. He announced a day of mourning in Kyiv for Friday.
Ukraine’s DTEK private energy company said its site in Kyiv was also hit.
Katarina Mathernova, EU ambassador to Ukraine, said that “Russia unleashed hell on Kyiv” overnight, and had struck accommodation used by diplomatic personnel.
The National Institute of Biochemistry was among many buildings damaged. Its state-of-the-art biochemistry laboratory and other offices were gutted during the attack.
“This is a catastrophe for medical and biological science of Ukraine,” biologist Yurii Danylovych told Reuters. The lab housed rare equipment, he said.
The attack caused the widest destruction in Kyiv so far this year, and was the deadliest since at least May when 24 people were killed in a strike that brought down an apartment block.
Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said the number of ballistic missiles was unusually high and the interception rate low. Ukraine has struggled with shortages of Patriot missiles in recent months.
The Defence Ministry in Moscow earlier reported that Ukraine may have used a long-range ballistic missile for the first time. Air defences shot down a “long-range operational-tactical missile” in the past day as well as seven guided bombs and 602 fixed-wing drones, the ministry said.
If confirmed, itg would mark a new step in Kyiv’s effort to expand its domestically produced long-range strike capabilities beyond drones and cruise-type systems. The high speed and trajectory of a ballistic missile reduces warning time and complicates interception by air defences.
Russia has killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians in strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Moscow denies intentionally attacking civilians but says attacks on what it describes as civil infrastructure are legitimate because they hurt Ukraine's ability to wage war.
Ukraine has expanded the range and intensity of its missile strikes inside Russia, causing alerts across nearly half of the regions in the world’s largest country so far this year.
While missile alerts earlier in the war were largely confined to Russian regions bordering Ukraine as well as Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow’s forces, areas that are home to more than 70 per cent of Russia’s population have sounded the alarm at least once, according to a Bloomberg analysis of statements by regional authorities.
