(KYIV, Ukraine) — Massive overnight Russian strikes on Kyiv killed 15 people, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow launched hundreds of drones and missiles at targets across the country.
The strikes wounded at least 177 others in the Ukrainian capital, according to officials. A United States citizen was among the 15 killed, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Nearly 150 residential buildings were damaged in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said, with search and rescue efforts ongoing.
“Rescuers and police officers continue to work at the sites where residential infrastructure was hit,” Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. “The rescue operation is ongoing at two locations in Kyiv. There are still people trapped under the rubble, so the work will not stop until everyone is found.”
At a residential building in the Solomianskyi district, “an entire entrance collapsed,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in an update on Telegram.
The mayor posted a video to Telegram showing what he said were Russian cluster munitions found at one of the impact sites in the capital. Klitschko later declared Wednesday a day of mourning for the victims of the attack.
Ukraine’s air force said in a post to Telegram that the attack consisted of 440 drones and 32 missiles — of which 402 drones and 26 missiles were shot down or otherwise neutralized. The air force reported impacts in 10 locations and downed debris in 34 locations. The attack is believed to have been one of the largest on the capital in several months.
Kyiv bore the brunt of the strikes, Zelenskyy said, with impacts also reported in Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad and Mykolaiv.
At least two people were killed and 18 injured in Odesa, according to officials. The deceased were recovered from under rubble, Klymenko said.
“Such attacks are pure terrorism,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “And the whole world, the U.S. and Europe must finally react the way a civilized society reacts to terrorists.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy said, “is doing this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to continue. It is bad when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to this. We are contacting all partners at all possible levels to ensure an appropriate response. It is the terrorists who should feel the pain, not normal, peaceful people.”
The attacks came as G7 leaders gathered in Canada, where Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine is one of several key topics of discussion. President Donald Trump on Monday suggested that Russia — previously a member of the group when it was known as the G8 — should not have been expelled from the bloc in 2014 after its invasion and annexation of Crimea.
Putin “sends a signal of total disrespect to the United States and other partners who have called for an end to the killing,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. “Putin’s goal is very simple: make the G7 leaders appear weak. Only strong steps and real pressure on Moscow can prove him wrong.”
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
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