The Ukrainian capital Kyiv observed an official day of mourning Friday, a day after a Russian drone and missile attack on the city killed 31 people, including five children, and injured more than 150, officials said.
The youngest victim in Thursday’s strikes was 2 years old, and 16 of the injured were children, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
It was the highest number of children killed and injured in a single attack on Kyiv since aerial attacks on the city began in October 2022, according to official casualty figures reported by The Associated Press.
The death toll rose overnight as emergency crews continued to dig through rubble. The Russian barrage demolished a large part of a nine-story residential building in the city, while more than 100 other buildings were damaged, including homes, schools, kindergartens, medical facilities and universities, officials said.
Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months, ignoring calls from Western leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump to stop striking civilian areas after more than three years of war.
Russian forces are also pressing on with their grinding war of attrition along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where incremental gains over the past year have cost the lives of thousands of soldiers on both sides.
Zelenskyy said that in July, Russia launched over 5,100 glide bombs, more than 3,800 Shahed drones, and nearly 260 missiles of various types, 128 of them ballistic, against Ukraine.
He repeated his appeal for countries to impose heavier economic sanctions on Russia to deter the Kremlin, as U.S.-led peace efforts have failed to gain traction.
“No matter how much the Kremlin denies (sanctions’) effectiveness, they are working and must be stronger,” Zelenskyy said.
His comments Friday appeared to be a response to Trump’s remarks the previous day, when the Republican president said the U.S. plans to impose sanctions on Russia but added, “I don’t know that sanctions bother him,” in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine also called for an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting to be convened Friday, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, in an effort to push Putin into accepting “a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”
Russian forces bear down on a key eastern Ukrainian city
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are under heavy pressure in the strategic hilltop city of Chasiv Yar, in the eastern Donetsk region where Russia is making a concerted push to break through defenses after some 18 months of fighting.
Zelenskyy said that Russian claims of capturing Chasiv Yar on Thursday were “disinformation.”
“Ukrainian units are holding our positions,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Thursday evening. “It is not easy, but it is the defense of Ukrainians’ very right to life.”
Even so, the Institute for the Study of War said that Ukraine’s hold on the key city is weakening.
“Russian forces will likely complete the seizure of Chasiv Yar in the coming days, which will open several possible avenues for Russian forces to attack Ukraine’s fortress belt — a series of fortified cities that form the backbone of Ukraine’s defensive positions” in the Donetsk region, the Washington-based think tank said.
Ukraine has tried to pressure the Russian army by striking rear areas with long-range drones that target rail networks, oil depots and arsenals.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that air defenses shot down 60 Ukrainian drones overnight. More than half were destroyed over Russia’s Belgorod region on the country’s border with Ukraine, it said. Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said that one person was injured.
