At least 23 killed in Russian drone and missile strike on Kyiv as Zelensky calls for global response

At least 23 people, including four children, have been killed in overnight Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko announced on Friday as rescue efforts concluded.

Over 50 people have been injured, Klymenko added. Hundreds of sites, including residential buildings, were damaged in six different districts of the Ukrainian capital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was scathing in his reaction to the attacks. Writing on X, he said “These Russian missiles and attack drones today are a clear response to everyone in the world who, for weeks and months, has been calling for a ceasefire and for real diplomacy.”

Zelensky also called for a reaction from China, which is due to host Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit beginning on Sunday. Zelensky noted that while Beijing had “repeatedly called for not expanding the war and for a ceasefire”, no progress had been made “because of Russia”.

“We expect a response from everyone in the world who has called for peace but now more often stays silent rather than taking principled positions,” Zelensky continued.

Russia also attacked western Ukraine’s Vinnytsia region, damaging railway tracks and delaying trains, Ukrainian Railways reported, and struck a regular passenger train from the high-speed fleet, though nobody was injured.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry reported that it had neutralised 102 Ukrainian drones across Russia overnight. In the city of Samara, in the Volga region, drones struck the Kuibyshev oil refinery, causing a fire. A railway station was also hit, causing delays and cancellations, according to the Kuibyshev Railway.

In the southern Russian Krasnodar region, a drone attack set the oil Afipsky refinery ablaze, according to Telegram channel ASTRA, but caused no injuries. A section of forest also caught fire near the town of Gelendzhik, according to local authorities.

The wreckage of a drone landed on the roof of a house, causing damage, in the southern Rostov region, Acting Governor Yury Slusar reported. The risk that the warhead stuck in the roof might detonate led to the evacuation of 89 residents, while the authorities in the southern Volgograd region said the railway station in the city of Petrov Val was also struck.