Rescue crews worked through the rubble in Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv on Friday, hoping to find survivors from a Russian missile and drone assault that claimed at least 30 lives the day before. Flags across the city were lowered to half-staff as officials declared an official day of mourning.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed Friday that the attack — the most lethal Russian strike on the capital in 2025 — left 92 people injured. He also noted that the parents of a 10-year-old boy who was hospitalized following the attack, along with a 15-year-old girl, remained unaccounted for.
In a separate incident, a Russian drone strike on a home in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region killed four people overnight, among them a woman and her young toddler daughter, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Forensic specialists continued working alongside rescue teams as they attempted to identify human remains from the wreckage. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the scale of destruction as extraordinary, saying more than 100 residential buildings had been damaged — an extent of devastation rarely seen even in a conflict now entering its fifth year.
In his Thursday evening address to the nation, Zelenskiy placed blame squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Russia has no argument left for its war other than its ballistic missiles,” he said. “Putin still intends to ‘vanquish’ residential buildings rather than end this war.”
Moscow characterized the strikes as retaliation for Ukrainian drone attacks launched against Russian territory.
Ukraine has in recent months managed to slow Russian advances along the roughly 1,200-kilometer front line, even recapturing ground in certain areas. At the same time, Ukraine has stepped up its own long-range strikes deep inside Russia, targeting energy infrastructure in particular. Those attacks have contributed to a fuel shortage in Russia, forcing the country — one of the world’s top oil producers — to import gasoline.
Russia has responded by escalating its air campaign against Ukrainian cities. Last month, a Russian strike damaged a Kyiv cathedral with roots stretching back 1,000 years, a site considered sacred to the Orthodox faith in both countries.
