EU mission in Kyiv hit in deadly Russian attack

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The EU delegation in Kyiv was damaged on Thursday in the deadliest Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital since July.

The strikes, which hit the EU mission for the first time and caused significant damage, killed at least 10 people and injured 48 in Kyiv.

It followed a wave of diplomatic activity after US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska in mid-August. There had been a sharp decrease in strikes on the capital in the run-up to the meeting, but Trump failed to secure any commitment from Putin to end the war.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos condemned the attacks and said on X that they were ‘‘a clear sign that Russia rejects peace & chooses terror’’.

One missile hit a five-storey residential building in the capital’s Darnytskyi district, local authorities said.

“Tragically, at least 8 people have already been confirmed dead. One of them is a child,” said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a message on the social media platform X on Thursday.

Victims might still be trapped under the rubble following “another massive attack against our cities and communities”, Zelenskyy said.

After the attack, Zelenskyy called for new sanctions against Russia. “All deadlines have already passed, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy have been ruined,” he said.

The bombardment involved long-range, Iranian-designed drones, decoy drones meant to distract and overwhelm air defences, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles, authorities said.

Damage was recorded in 20 locations across seven districts of the city, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, wrote on Telegram.

While Kyiv suffered the brunt of the raid, explosions were reported elsewhere. At least 60,000 people were left without electricity following strikes on energy infrastructure in the Vinnytsia region, according to local authorities, while Ukrainian railways said a passenger train was damaged in a strike at a depot.

Ukrainian drones also hit two oil refineries overnight in Russia’s Krasnodar and Samara regions, Robert Brovdi, the head of a Ukrainian military unit dedicated to drones, wrote on Telegram.