Kyiv declares day of mourning after deadliest strike in weeks

Russian ballistic missiles killed at least 12 people and injured more than 30 in Kyiv early on Thursday, authorities said, as Moscow’s forces targeted the Ukrainian capital in an attack that destroyed the upper floors of a nine-storey residential block and damaged a children’s hospital and a school. Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who declared Friday a day of mourning, said seven people died in the Solomianskyi district alone, while two other districts also suffered strikes on non-residential facilities, warehouses and civilian infrastructure.

The attack cut power to roughly 90,000 homes, though energy company DTEK said it had restored electricity to more than half of those affected by Thursday afternoon. The Russian Defence Ministry said it had struck Kyiv and the surrounding region with airstrikes and drones, claiming to have hit facilities producing drone components, a military depot and a logistics hub—a description that Ukrainian officials dismissed as a pretext for targeting civilian areas. The bombardment comes as Ukraine grapples with a critical shortage of interceptor missiles to down ballistic projectiles, a vulnerability that Russia has sought to exploit in recent months with intensified air campaigns.

In a separate development, authorities in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan said several people were injured and homes damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, with work disrupted at an industrial site. Ukraine has also stepped up its own strikes on Russian oil facilities and logistics infrastructure, seeking to undermine Moscow’s ability to sustain its unprovoked invasion. The latest assault on Kyiv underscores the relentless nature of Russia’s brutal campaign against a sovereign nation, as civilian casualties mount and diplomatic efforts remain frozen. The World House, which maintains a dedicated page outlining its support for Ukraine at worldhouse.uk/support, continues to document the human cost of Moscow’s aggression.