At least two people were killed and others injured in a Russian ballistic-missile attack targeting the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Thursday morning. The attack came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said US President Donald Trump's administration was pushing for three immediate steps to de-escalate tensions and resume the diplomatic process with Russia.
Casualties and damage from the strikes in Kyiv
Channels on Telegram linked to the Ukrainian military counted about 14 missiles during the first three waves of the attack, while local media reported several fires breaking out in different parts of the capital. Klitschko said missile fragments had hit the facade of a maternity hospital in one Kyiv district, with no injuries reported inside the building.
He added that one person was killed in the hospital's car park and that a house in another area was damaged, saying people might be trapped under the rubble. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched several missiles, some of them ballistic, along with 282 drones during the previous day, and that Ukrainian air defences had shot down eight missiles, including three ballistic missiles.
Kyiv and Moscow offer differing accounts of the strike targets
The Ukrainian General Staff, for its part, said Russia had carried out 83 airstrikes against Ukrainian forces, using 287 guided aerial bombs. Russia's Defence Ministry said its strikes had targeted institutions belonging to Ukraine's military-industrial complex, as well as communications and logistics centres in Kyiv and Odesa Region.
It added that Russian air-defence systems had destroyed 40 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions during the previous night. Zelenskyy condemned the attack, writing on the X platform: "Flashes from the explosions lit up the sky while residents were asleep."
He wrote after a meeting with members of the US Congress: "Once again, the main targets of their attack were Kyiv and civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, a maternity hospital, energy infrastructure and logistics facilities."
US proposals to halt attacks on energy facilities
The Ukrainian president renewed his call for tough sanctions against Russia and those supporting it, stressing that his country needed more ballistic interceptor missiles for self-defence. Axios quoted him as saying that the Trump administration was proposing a truce covering energy facilities, the reopening of the grain corridor and a US-Russian-Ukrainian meeting. He added that Kyiv was ready to agree to a halt to reciprocal attacks on energy facilities.
The attack followed an exchange of intensive strikes between Russia and Ukraine in recent days, as long-range operations escalated on both sides of the front line.
Speaking before the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country would "not suspend" its war in Ukraine, which has continued for more than 4 years.
