Russia unleashed a massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least 13 people and wounding over 100 in the capital in one of the deadliest assaults since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. At least two people were killed in Odesa, authorities said.
The attacks came as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was preparing to meet on June 17 with US President Donald Trump and other leaders at a Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada and call for tougher measures against Russia. But Trump left the summit before his meeting with Zelenskyy could take place, returning to Washington amid a deadly conflict between Israel and Iran.
In Kyiv, an entire nine-story section of an apartment building was razed to the ground by a missile strike during the onslaught, which occurred as many residents were sleeping in their homes, and officials said the death toll could rise as rescuers searched through rubble. Adjacent windows were blown out and hunks of debris littered the street.
"Kyiv has faced one of the most horrific attacks," Zelenskyy said in a social media post. Russia fired at least 175 drones, 14 guided missiles, and two ballistic missiles at the capital and the surrounding area, the city military administration reported.
As of 5:30 p.m. local time, the confirmed death toll in the Russian attacks was 12, including 10 in Kyiv and two in Odesa, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said, citing the Interior Ministry.
Earlier, officials from various agencies had put the death toll in Kyiv at 14 or 15. A 62-year-old US citizen was among the dead in the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
The body of a 60-year-old woman and another victim were found in the ruins of buildings in Odesa, authorities said, and Russia also fired drones and missiles at the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhya, closer to the front in a region that Russian forces are attempting to push into on the ground.
Zelenskyy said that, overall, Russia launched more than 440 drones and 32 missiles in the attack overnight into June 17, which also targeted the Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, and Mykolayiv regions. The Ukrainian Air Force said it had shot down 402 of the drones and 26 of the missiles.
The State Emergency Service said rescuers were still working at two sites in the capital where people were believed to have been trapped under the rubble in the attacks hours earlier.
"It's a disaster," a survivor in Kyiv said, his face and chest flecked with blood.
"There was a first strike.... It threw me into the hallway," he told Current Time. "I went to get my mother. She must have been in shock and tried to shut the window. Then there was a second strike. I don’t remember much. I came around and pulled my mother out of the room, thank God, because there was so much smoke and she could have suffocated.”
"Such attacks are pure terrorism," Zelenskyy said. "And the whole world, the United States, and Europe must finally respond as a civilized society responds to terrorists.
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on," he added. "It is wrong when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it."
Shock In Ukraine As Russian Strikes Collapse Apartments, Hit Multiple Cities
The attack came ahead of what had been expected to be a meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Alberta, Canada, where additional oil sanctions and other measures to blunt Russia's capacity to finance its war on Ukraine were among possible topics on June 17.
But Trump left the summit early, with the White House saying he was returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East, where Israel and Iran exchanged air attacks for a fourth straight day. Zelenskyy's other one-on-one meetings with world leaders were expected to proceed.
Russia has kept up its attacks on Ukraine despite efforts by the United States to broker a peace deal. No visible progress has emerged from two rounds of negotiations in Istanbul in the past month beyond exchanges of prisoners and the remains of the war dead, and a third round has not been scheduled.
Moscow has rejected calls by Kyiv and the West for an unconditional cease-fire, while Ukraine has dismissed Russia's demands as "ultimatums."
The meeting with Trump would have been a chance for Zelenskyy to press the United States to impose new sanctions on Russia. Trump has not committed to hit Moscow with additional punishments and has said he could take action targeting both sides if they can't reach a deal.
On June 16, before he left the summit, Trump suggested there would have been no war in Ukraine if other members had not expelled Russia from what was then the G8 in 2014, after Moscow seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
Asked if he supports Russia, Trump said, “I only care about saving lives.”
Ukrainian political analyst Oleh Saakyan said he believes the Russian attack was timed to coincide with the G7 meeting.
"Unfortunately, this is all very predictable. Whenever there are negotiations or high-level meetings, like the G7 summit, Russia organizes massive terror against civilians," Saakyan told Current Time, the Russian-language TV and digital network run by RFE/RL.
Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, slammed the new Russian strikes on Ukraine, saying that Moscow is "continuing its war against civilians."
Russia claims it does not target civilians, despite ample evidence that it does, and many of the growing number of civilian casualties have been caused by Russian long-range missile and drone attacks.
The confirmed civilian death toll since the start of the full-scale invasion is over 13,000, according to the UN, but officials say the real number is likely higher.
The Russian military said it had downed 203 Ukrainian drones over 10 Russian regions on the night of June 16-17.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defenses had repelled two drones headed for the capital overnight. Russian air defense units also destroyed 51 drones over the border region of Belgorod during a 3-1/2 hour period late on June 16, the Defense Ministry said.
