Russian attack on Kyiv kills at least 24 people

A devastating Russian missile-and-drone barrage on Kyiv has killed at least 24 people, Ukrainian emergency officials said today, dealing another blow to already-fading hopes that Moscow’s long war might soon ease.

Air raid sirens echoed across the capital yesterday, and hours of explosions and flashes overhead drove residents into metro stations and other shelters.

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 675 attack drones and 56 missiles, with Kyiv as the main target. It said air defence forces intercepted 652 drones and 41 missiles.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the assault damaged 20 locations across the city, among them homes, a school, a veterinary clinic and other civilian sites.

Ukraine’s emergency service said today that 24 people, including three children, were killed and 47 injured, revising an earlier death toll.

Watch: Rescuers search for at least 20 missing after Russian attack in Kyiv

Police said seven bodies were recovered from the ruins of one destroyed apartment building: three men, three women and a girl.

The two countries have repeatedly traded overnight aerial strikes, and officials in western Russia said this morning that Ukrainian attacks on the city of Ryazan killed three people and injured at least 12 more.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian strikes wounded people in the southern regions of Odesa and Kherson, as well as in the eastern Kharkiv region.

“These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end. It is important that partners do not remain silent about this strike,” Mr Zelensky said.

Ukraine said it brought down 94% of the drones and 73% of the missiles launched by Russia.

“The most difficult challenge is defending against ballistic missiles,” he said.

Women observing at the site of a missile and drone strike in Kyiv yesterday

A number of Ukraine’s allies, among them the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, the Netherlands, Moldova and Slovakia, denounced the deadly strikes.

“By bombing civilians, Russia demonstrates less its strength than its weakness: it is running out of solutions on the military front and does not know how to end its war of aggression,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the latest strikes on Kyiv showed that Russia “openly mocks” efforts to bring the war to an end.

Russia, which launched its invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago, said the missiles and drones were aimed at military-related targets and energy facilities used to support the Ukrainian army.

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Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said today would be observed as a day of mourning in the capital “in memory of the victims of the enemy’s most massive attack” on Kyiv.

He said flags would be lowered to half-mast and entertainment events would be banned.

The war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions from their homes.