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KYIV — Russia launched its largest and most sustained drone attack of the war on Ukraine overnight Wednesday into Thursday, killing at least 17 people in the capital and wounding dozens more, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired more than 1,560 drones at Ukraine since the start of Wednesday — the most concentrated aerial assault recorded in any two-day period since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022. An additional 56 missiles accompanied the barrage, according to Zelensky.
At least 16 people were killed in Kyiv alone, according to Ukrainian emergency services, with rescue workers pulling bodies from the rubble of a partially collapsed residential building in the Darnytskyi district. Aerial footage aired by Ukrainian state media showed a multi-story apartment block reduced to twisted concrete and exposed rebar. Among the dead were two children, local officials said.
Air raid alarms sounded for roughly 11 hours across the capital region. The strikes came as the United States pressed ahead with indirect talks with Moscow aimed at securing a Black Sea ceasefire, a proposal that has so far produced no agreed terms.
The attack followed the collapse of a U.S.-brokered three-day ceasefire that had briefly halted fighting last week. Russia has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the Donbas as a precondition for any renewed truce — a demand Kyiv has rejected as a capitulation.
Britain summoned Russia’s ambassador for a formal condemnation. France and Germany issued a joint statement calling the attacks “a grave violation of international humanitarian law.” The European Union convened an emergency session in Brussels to review further responses.
Ukrainian air defence intercepted 652 drones and 41 missiles, according to the Ukrainian general staff, though the volume of incoming fire overwhelmed some battery positions in the eastern sectors.
Zelensky repeated his call for partners to authorize long-range strikes on Russian territory. “Every hour of delay costs lives,” he said in a video address posted to social media. He is expected to address the UN General Assembly on Friday.
The attacks rattled markets, with Brent crude briefly touching $97 a barrel on fears of broader disruption to Black Sea shipping lanes. U.S. Secretary of State held a call with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the Beijing summit, describing the situation as “dangerously close to a wider regional escalation.”
The Russian defence ministry said the strikes targeted “military command infrastructure” and weapons depots, and denied any civilian casualties — a claim disputed by independent journalists on the ground and verified photo evidence from the affected neighborhoods.
International monitors say the attacks mark the most intensive single phase of air bombardment since the war began.
