Key Points and Summary – Russia has launched its largest missile and drone attack on Kyiv since July, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens.
-The massive barrage damaged civilian infrastructure across the capital, including residential buildings, a kindergarten, and, notably, the EU Delegation and British Council offices.
-The deadly assault comes at a critical moment in peace negotiations, prompting fierce condemnation from European leaders.
-Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of choosing “ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” while others said the attack showed Russia’s “true face” and was an attempt to “sabotage hopes of peace.”
Kyiv Slammed in New Ukraine War Attack by Russia
WARSAW, POLAND – Russia struck Kyiv recently with a massive missile and drone attack, killing at least 18 people, including four children.
Dozens of others were wounded in the Ukrainian capital, and emergency personnel in the city were searching through the debris of several buildings that collapsed after being hit.
At least 10 persons remain unaccounted for.
One of the areas hit in the attack is on the same block as the EU Delegation building and the British Council offices, both of which were damaged in the attack.
The BBC and other news services shared photos of the buildings with all their windows blown out and with glass, insulation, and debris scattered on the ground in all directions.
The British Council has not commented on whether any of its staff were injured.
Ukraine’s authorities said the severity of strikes across the country was unprecedented, and that the attack on Kyiv was the largest attack on the Ukrainian capital since July 31.
Several areas of Kyiv were hit, with the majority of the damage inflicted on residential buildings. CNN cited Ukrainian officials who said that “several high-rise residential buildings were damaged, as well as a kindergarten, private housing, non-residential blocks, offices, transport infrastructure and dozens of cars.”
European Reaction
European capitals are reacting to the Russian attack with universal condemnation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denounced Moscow for choosing “ballistics instead of the negotiating table.”
The UK Foreign Office summoned Russia’s ambassador after the attack, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemning the night’s indiscriminate killing. Starmer wrote on his X account that “Putin is killing children and civilians, and sabotaging hopes of peace. This bloodshed must end”.
Earlier this month, Starmer travelled to Washington, D.C. along with several other European leaders and Zelenskiy for a meeting in the White House with Donald Trump. This interaction came three days after the U.S. president met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska for a summit that failed to result in a ceasefire.
Trump was overheard on a hot mic telling France’s Emmanuel Macron that Putin “wants to make a deal for me”. But after this attack, the French president stated that the missile strikes are a prime example of “Russia’s idea of peace: terror and barbarism”.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz echoed these sentiments, saying that Russia “showed its true face again last night”.
Germany To Become an Ammunition Powerhouse
There is a definite cause-and-effect dynamic connecting Putin’s intransigence regarding a ceasefire to Russia’s choice to continue killing innocent civilians.
European nations, long beset with low stocks of munitions and low production rates of almost all major weapon systems, are noticeably stepping up their defense production.
Yesterday it was announced that leading German defense conglomerate Rheinmetall has opened a new ammunition factory in the north of Germany. Once the facility reaches full capacity, it will be the largest of its kind in Europe.
The corporation’s CEO, Armin Papperger, made international headlines last year when it was reported that U.S. intelligence services had uncovered a Russian operation to assassinate him. The plot was revealed to have been hatched in retaliation for Rheinmetall providing large shipments of armaments to Ukraine.
The plan to murder Papperger was found to be only one of several Russian government schemes to kill European defense industry executives whose firms have supported Ukraine’s war effort.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
More Military
The U.S. Navy Can’t Touch Russia’s Titanium Alfa-Class Submarine
The Air Force’s F-22 Raptor Fighter Nightmare Is a ‘Self-Inflicted Wound’
J-36 vs. F-47: Which 6th Generation ‘NGAD’ Fighter Will Be ‘First’?
