Russia launched a series of missile and drone attacks on Kiev, killing at least 14 people and injuring 55 others. This is considered one of the bloodiest nights in the Ukrainian capital since the conflict broke out in early 2022.
The death toll is expected to rise as some locations across the capital are hit. At a 9-storey Soviet-era apartment building in western Kiev, a missile attack collapsed part of the building, leaving a large hole and a pile of rubble in the middle of the building.
Thirty apartments were destroyed in the attack, Kiev Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said while surveying the scene. "There may be people below the rubble and we cannot rule out the possibility of an increase in the death toll," he said.
Russia has conducted almost nightly attacks on Ukraine for more than three years of the conflict, but direct attacks on Kiev are rare, as the Ukrainian capital has air defense systems.
In recent weeks, Moscow has deployed a record number of drones and missiles in response to Ukraine's bold drone attack on long-range bombers based deep inside Russian bases.
In Moscow, the city's airports were closed for a short time on the morning of June 17 in the context of reports of a Ukrainian drone attack. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that two Ukrainian drones had approached the city and that air defense forces had responded successfully.
