At least 7 killed as Russian missiles, drones pound Kyiv

Russian missiles and drones pounded Ukraine’s capital Kyiv early on Monday, killing at least seven people, injuring 24 others and causing widespread damage to residential buildings across the city, according to Ukrainian officials.

The overnight assault struck multiple apartment blocks, with rescue workers racing to pull survivors from the rubble as fires broke out in several districts.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said two bodies were recovered from a heavily damaged apartment building in the historic Podilskyi district, where at least four residential buildings were hit.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said emergency crews evacuated 15 residents from a partially collapsed building in Podilskyi, including three women and six children rescued from the upper floors.

In the eastern Darnytskyi district, two people were killed after drone debris struck a 25-storey apartment building. Rescue teams continued searching for residents believed trapped on higher floors. A separate fire also engulfed a 30-storey residential building in the same district, which was among the areas devastated during last week’s large-scale Russian attack that killed at least 30 people.

Reuters witnesses reported multiple explosions across Kyiv as air defence systems engaged incoming missiles and drones throughout the night.

Images from the scene showed rescue workers combing through piles of rubble, carrying injured residents on stretchers and battling fires that engulfed apartment blocks and commercial buildings. Thick smoke blanketed parts of the city, prompting local authorities and bloggers to advise residents to keep windows shut due to deteriorating air quality.

Many Kyiv residents spent the night sheltering in metro stations and underground parking garages as air raid sirens sounded across the capital.

The attack also prompted neighbouring Poland, a NATO and EU member, to briefly scramble fighter jets as a precaution amid the heightened security threat.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned residents earlier of an imminent large-scale Russian attack.