Russian strikes kill nine in Kyiv before NATO summit
Rescuers in Kyiv raced to pull people from the rubble of partially destroyed apartment blocks after a fresh wave of Russian attacks killed nine civilians and left 46 injured, including five children. The Soviet‑era missiles slammed into multiple buildings across the city, sparking fires and tearing the skyline into a chaotic scene of smouldering wreckage.
Kyiv’s military administrator, Timur Tkachenko, confirmed the casualty figures while mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported that fires broke out in several apartment complexes and that damaged garages and warehouses were also affected.
The barrage of attacks came hours before the NATO summit in Turkey, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump and discuss the provision of long‑range missile support.
Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a second “massive strike” on Kyiv following a previous wave that killed 30 people. In the words of the president, any delay in supplying missile defenses “means the loss of lives, and it encourages Russia to continue the war.”
Ukraine accuses Moscow of deliberately attacking civilian areas, while Russia defends its operations as retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on Russian power stations and energy facilities.
Amid the chaotic aftermath, residents were forced to seek refuge in metro stations as alarms blared. Power outages were also reported in Sevastopol, a Russian‑occupied city in Crimea.
