At least 14 dead in Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv

In the early hours of Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Russia launched a relentless missile and drone assault on Kyiv, resulting in at least 14 fatalities and injuring 55 people.

Online media reports say Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the incident as “one of the most horrific attacks” on the capital since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in spring 2022.

The casualty numbers were expected to rise as emergency services continued to assess the damage across multiple sites in the city.

One of the worst-hit locations was a nine-storey Soviet-era apartment building in western Kyiv, which suffered a direct missile strike.

The blast caused part of the structure to collapse entirely, creating a massive hole and a mountain of debris.

According to Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, thirty apartments were completely destroyed in the explosion.

Surveying the destruction, he warned that more victims might be found beneath the rubble.

It was still unknown how many residents were inside the building at the time of the attack.

As the sun rose, rescue crews worked urgently to remove debris and reach survivors trapped in nearby units.

The impact extended beyond the immediate blast site, with nearby shops and buildings within a two-block radius suffering shattered windows and structural damage.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed that a ballistic missile had scored a direct hit on the residential complex.

“A section of the building has been completely destroyed, down to the basement,” he reported.

Throughout the night, Kyiv was under intense bombardment, with waves of drones and missiles battering the city.

Air raid sirens sounded for hours, forcing thousands of residents to seek shelter in underground metro stations.

The attacks echoed ominously through the buildings, while air defense units worked feverishly to intercept the incoming threats.

By morning, a dark cloud of smoke lingered over the outskirts of the city, and the smell of burning permeated central Kyiv.

President Zelenskyy took to Facebook to decry the severity of the attack.

He described the overnight events as one of the darkest moments for Kyiv since the war began.

“People are still trapped under the rubble of what used to be a normal residential building.

“We don’t yet know how many,” he wrote.

He called on the global community not to ignore the assault and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of continuing the war simply because he has the means to do so.

“Putin does this because he can. He wants the war to persist,” Zelenskyy stated.

Although Ukraine has endured near-nightly bombardments over the course of the three-year conflict, direct hits on Kyiv have been rare due to the capital’s robust air defense network.

However, in recent weeks, Russia has significantly increased the volume of missile and drone attacks.

Analysts believe this surge is partly retaliatory, following a bold Ukrainian drone strike that targeted Russian long-range bombers at bases deep inside Russia.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, the city’s airports were briefly shut down early Tuesday due to reports of an incoming Ukrainian drone strike.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that two Ukrainian drones approached the capital, and Russian air defenses responded to the threat.

Efforts to bring the war to an end through diplomacy have so far produced little progress.

U.S.-led initiatives to initiate a peace process have largely faltered, with Russia refusing to consider a ceasefire.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls for a full ceasefire as a condition for talks have gone unheeded by Moscow.

Similarly, direct negotiations held in Istanbul have stalled, with no indication that Russia is prepared to scale back its military objectives.

President Zelenskyy had been scheduled to meet with Trump during the G7 summit in Canada on Tuesday.

However, those plans were disrupted after the White House announced that the U.S. president would be cutting his trip short.

Due to escalating tensions in the Middle East, he returned to Washington on Monday night.

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