At least 28 people, including three children aged three, six, and 17, were killed Thursday morning after waves of Russian drones and missiles struck several districts across Kyiv. According to Ukraine’s interior ministry, 159 others were injured, and a residential building collapsed in the onslaught.
Despite growing international pressure and a looming U.S. deadline for peace talks, Russia unleashed one of its most intense barrages in recent months. Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 309 drones and eight cruise missiles overnight. While many were intercepted, multiple strikes still landed including several from cruise missiles igniting fires and spreading destruction across the city. A red-orange glow lit up the sky in some areas, marking the devastation below.
"This was one of the largest airstrikes since President Trump advanced his ceasefire deadline for President Putin," a Ukrainian official said. "But it seems Moscow remains undeterred."
U.S. President Donald Trump recently warned of harsher sanctions if Russia doesn't agree to a ceasefire by August 8. On Thursday, Acting U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John Kelley, urged both sides to reach an agreement. “Both Russia and Ukraine must negotiate a ceasefire and a durable peace,” he told the UN Security Council. “It is time to make a deal.”
The airstrikes caused widespread damage across Kyiv. The hardest-hit districts were Sviatoshynskyi and Solomyansky. In the Shevchenkivskyi district, the shockwave from a missile strike shattered the windows of a children’s hospital ward. A university, a school, and a kindergarten were also damaged.
Three of the dead were found at the site of a collapsed apartment block. “An entire section was destroyed,” said Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. “Rescue workers are still clearing the rubble.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was deliberately targeting the capital. “Once again, the world sees Russia’s answer to our, America’s, and Europe’s call for peace: more calculated murder,” he wrote on social media. “That’s why peace without strength is impossible.”
Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it a “horrible morning,” warning that more victims may still be trapped under the debris. He noted that Trump had been “very generous and patient” with Putin, but now it was time to apply “maximum pressure” on Moscow through tougher sanctions.
Earlier in July, Trump had given the Kremlin a 50-day deadline to agree to a truce. But during a visit to the UK earlier this week, he abruptly shortened that window to just 10 or 12 days, citing Putin’s escalating aggression.
“We were on the brink of a ceasefire maybe peace and then suddenly missiles started flying into Kyiv and other places,” Trump said. While he didn’t outright accuse Putin of deception, he admitted there was a clear gap between their private discussions and Russia’s military actions.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, Russia claimed to have captured the strategic hilltop town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk. Ukraine denied the report, saying fighting in the town is ongoing. Open-source intelligence group DeepState reported that Russian forces had likely gained control of the town’s eastern and northern edges, but Ukrainian defenders continued to resist in other areas.
Control of Chasiv Yar would offer Russia a commanding position to target other major cities in Donetsk, such as Druzhivka, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk.
Further south, the town of Pokrovsk roughly 60 kilometers southwest of Chasiv Yar is now considered the “hottest spot” on the front line. Analysts warn that Ukraine’s forces there, already outnumbered and facing logistical challenges, may be at risk of encirclement by Russian troops if reinforcements don’t arrive soon.
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