‘Horrific’: Russian strikes kill 16 in Ukraine

The strike was one of the deadliest on Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and came as direct peace talks between the two sides appeared to stall.

Russia fired scores of missiles and drones at Kyiv on Tuesday, killing at least 16 people and wounding dozens in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called “one of the most horrific attacks” on the capital.

The strike was one of the deadliest on Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and came as direct peace talks between the two sides appeared to stall.

Zelensky said “an entire section of an apartment block” was destroyed and rescuers were searching under the rubble for possible survivors.

A Russian drone attacks a building during Russia's massive missile and drone air attack in Kyiv. Picture: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

Residents react after a Russian missile hit a multi-storey apartment during Russia's combined missile and drone air attack in Kyiv. Picture: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

Dozens of residents took shelter in a metro station in central Kyiv, sleeping on mats, exchanging information on the drone and missile threat or reassuring pets, AFP journalists saw.

Some 27 locations in Kyiv were hit, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said.

One person was also killed and 10 wounded in a strike on the southern port city of Odesa, while attacks on the Sumy and Kherson regions later in the day killed two others, authorities said.

A wounded resident of a damaged apartment building is treated by medics after an overnight drone and missile attack on June 17, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Picture: Vlada Liberova/Libkos/Getty Images

An apartment at multi-storey residential building is seen on fire after a Russian drone strike in Kyiv. Picture: AP Photo

A total of 440 drones and 32 missiles were used in the strikes nationwide, Zelensky said.

“Kyiv has faced one of the most horrific attacks,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on Facebook.

“Right now in Kyiv, efforts are underway to rescue people from under the rubble of an ordinary residential building - it’s still unclear how many remain trapped.”

He urged the international community not to “turn a blind eye”. Russian President Vladimir “Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on,” he said.

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US CITIZEN KILLED IN RUSSIAN ATTACK

Residential buildings, educational institutions and “critical infrastructure facilities” were all hit, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram.

A total of 114 were wounded in the attack on Kyiv, 68 of them hospitalised, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.

He reported earlier that a US citizen had died in a Russian attack on the capital’s Solomyansky district.

Ukrainian firefighter extinguish burning cars as rescuers conduct search and rescue operations in a heavily damaged residential building following a Russian missile strike on Ukraine's capital. Picture: Genya SAVILOV / AFP

“During the attack on Kyiv... a 62-year-old US citizen died in a house opposite to the place where medics were providing assistance to the injured,” Klitschko said on Telegram.

Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the new strikes showed Moscow was “continuing its war against civilians”.

More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has kept up its attacks despite efforts by the United States to broker a ceasefire.

Talks have stalled. Moscow has rejected the “unconditional” truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies, while Ukraine has dismissed Russia’s demands as “ultimatums”.

Zelensky had been hoping to speak with his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, but the US leader cut short his visit, amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

TRUMP UNLEASHES ON WORLD LEADERS

Donald Trump has used his first appearance at the G7 to agitate for the inclusion of Russia in the leader’s group, sensationally claiming Vladimir Putin would not have gone to war with Ukraine if his country wasn’t booted from the block.

The US President said it had been a “big mistake” to evict Russia from the group in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea.

“You wouldn’t have that (Ukraine) war,” he said.

“You have your enemy at the table … he wasn’t really an enemy at the time.

“If he were a member of what was called the G8 at that time … you wouldn’t have a war right now.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Antonio Costa, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and US President Donald Trump attend a working session during the G7 Summit in Alberta, Canada. Picture: AFP

Mr Trump said he had the best relationship with the Russian leader of any of the G7 nations.

“Putin speaks to me,” Mr Trump said.

“He doesn’t speak to anybody else because he was very insulted when he got thrown out, as I would be, as you would be, as anybody would be.”

Mr Trump is joined by leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Antonio Costa, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and host Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for the summit in Alberta.

BODIES OF UKRAINE SOLDIERS RETURNED

Russia has returned 1245 bodies to Ukraine, Kyiv said on Monday, the final stage of a deal to repatriate more than 6000 dead Ukrainian soldiers agreed at peace talks this month.

Russia and Ukraine reached a deal on a large-scale exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed soldiers, the only visible result from two rounds of direct talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

“Another 1245 bodies returned to Ukraine – repatriation part of Istanbul agreements has been completed,” the government agency co-ordinating the repatriation said.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said on Facebook that Kyiv has received more than 6000 bodies in total over the past week.

Ukrainian special team members attending the repatriation of bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Picture: Handout / Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War

The Russian defence ministry gave a slightly different figure of 1248 for the number of bodies returned in the final stage of the accord – three more than Kyiv said it had received.

Moscow’s defence ministry said it had “fulfilled the agreement”. It also said it was ready to “hand over another 2239 bodies of fallen servicemen”, an offer extra to what was agreed in Istanbul.

Moscow said it had received the bodies of 51 dead Russian soldiers in return, taking the total number handed over by Ukraine in the latest exchanges to 78.

Kyiv initially said the two sides had agreed to “exchange” the bodies of 6000 dead Ukrainian soldiers, though Russia has always presented it as unilateral decision.

Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since Russia invaded in February 2022, according to independent monitors and Western intelligence agencies.

Neither side releases regular or reliable figures on the number of their own casualties but they do publish claims about the other side’s losses that are widely seen as inflated.

Originally published as ‘Horrific’: Russian strikes kill 16 in Ukraine