Death Toll Rises After Missile Strike on Kyiv

At least 13 people have been reported killed and around 40 wounded after a series of missile strikes on Kyiv overnight, according to media reports. Earlier accounts from the night gave lower tolls as emergency services worked to assess the scale of damage across the capital.

What happened

The latest strikes began around midnight local time, when air‑raid sirens sounded across Kyiv and, officials say, roughly 20 Russian missiles were launched toward the city. Residential blocks and warehouses were struck; a children’s hospital and a school also suffered damage.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said impacts, destruction and fires were recorded in multiple districts of the capital, and that power cuts left thousands of properties in the Kyiv region in darkness.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the fatalities were the result of a shortage of air‑defence missiles on which Kyiv relies from Western partners. He wrote on Telegram that, "As long as Ukraine does not have enough anti‑ballistic weapons, Russia will not seriously consider peace."

Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko told reporters that Ukraine is "absolutely unprotected" from attacks by ballistic missiles and "cannot do anything" without interceptors, adding that Russia is exploiting that vulnerability to try to destroy as much infrastructure as possible.

Ukrainian air force data released in the morning indicated that none of the ballistic missiles used during the night had been intercepted. The Russian Ministry of Defence said it used air, land and naval assets to target military facilities and storage sites.

Photo: press material from the event