Death toll in attack on Kyiv apartment now stands at 24

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that a Russian missile attack on a Kyiv apartment building the previous day killed 24 people, including what local officials said were three teenagers.

Emergency workers finished digging through the building’s rubble after more than a day, Zelenskyy said on X. The cruise missile hit the nine-story corner block during what the Ukrainian air force said was Russia’s biggest barrage of the country since its all-out invasion. The assault mostly targeted the Ukrainian capital, where 48 people were wounded, including two children, Zelenskyy said.

Russia hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks in the days following a May 9-11 ceasefire that US President Donald Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe. Fighting went on over those 72 hours, although reportedly on a lesser scale.

This week’s attacks ran counter to recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the war, now in its fifth year, is close to ending.

Zelenskyy said Thursday that Moscow had launched more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centres since Wednesday. In all, some 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings, he said.

Previously, the biggest Russian drone attack was from the evening of March 23 to the evening of March 24, when Moscow’s forces fired nearly 1,000 drones and missiles at Ukraine.

Ukraine has also built up significant long-range capabilities, and Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that air defences downed 355 drones overnight in one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks of the war.

Several airports suspended flights overnight because of the attacks.

Also, a Ukrainian drone attack on Ryazan, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Moscow, killed four people, including a child, Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov said.