Russia launched a large-scale air attack on Kiev yesterday, which included unusual strikes on the center of the Ukrainian capital, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The attack killed at least 23 people, wounded 48 and damaged the European Union diplomatic mission, local authorities said.
The drone and missile attack was the first large-scale Russian attack on Kiev in weeks at a time when US efforts to end the three-year war are trying to gain momentum. Britain said the attack was sabotaging peace efforts, and the EU's top diplomat Kaia Kallas summoned the Russian ambassador to Brussels over the strikes that damaged the bloc's diplomatic mission in the Ukrainian capital.
The UN Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting on the airstrikes for this afternoon at the request of Ukraine and the council's five European members - Britain, France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece. Two of Ukraine's top officials were expected to meet with Trump administration officials on Tuesday about US mediation.
The Kremlin said Russia remained interested in continuing peace talks despite yesterday's airstrike, one of the largest since the start of the war in 2022.
Among the dead were four children aged between 2 and 17, said the head of the Kiev city administration, Timur Tkachenko. He added that there were likely more people under the rubble and that rescue operations were ongoing.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, approved the sale of $825 million worth of weapons to Ukraine, including long-range missiles and related equipment to bolster the country's defense capabilities, as U.S. efforts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia appear to be stalling. The State Department said Ukraine would use funding from NATO allies Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway in addition to foreign military funding from the United States to pay for the weapons.
Yesterday's attack was one of the few in which Russian drones and missiles have managed to penetrate the heart of Kiev since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Ukraine's air force said Russia had directed 598 strike drones and decoy drones, as well as 31 missiles of various types, across the country, most of them hitting targets in Kiev.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had struck air bases and companies "of Ukraine's military-industrial complex" using long-range weapons, including Kinzhal missiles.
“All designated targets were hit,“ the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine has stepped up arms production in the country to fight the Russian invasion, the AP reports. Many weapons factories operate secretly, some of them located in civilian areas with strong air defenses. Indiscriminate Russian attacks, which they claim are aimed at Ukraine's defense industry, have killed many civilians.