Russian forces launched a large-scale overnight drone and missile attack on Kyiv, killing 10 people, injuring 38, and damaging residential and other buildings across seven districts, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack, which also killed a child, showed the world Russia's answer to diplomacy amid efforts by US President Donald Trump to end the war.
"Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table," Zelensky said on X/Twitter, calling for new sanctions on Russia. "It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war."
Despite the deadly overnight strike on Kyiv, The Kremlin said on Thursday that it was still interested in pursuing peace talks on Ukraine.
Asked if there was a contradiction between Moscow's stated desire to make progress in peace talks and the attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that both sides were continuing to attack each other but that Russia was still interested in achieving its goals via diplomacy.
Kyiv city authorities reported at least 38 injuries as the search and rescue operations were underway, with emergency services putting out the fires and sifting through the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Explosions lit up the night sky in the capital during the air alert, which lasted for over nine hours, with clouds of smoke covering the sky as drones buzzed overhead.
Ukrainian air force said it downed 563 of 598 drones and 26 of 31 missiles launched by Russia in a country-wide attack.
The Air Force recorded hits at 13 locations and debris falling at 26 locations.
"Unfortunately, the Russians' style is typical in their attacks," Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, wrote on Telegram.
"Combined strikes, from different directions. And systematic, targeting ordinary residential buildings."
Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has stepped up air strikes in recent months on Ukrainian towns and cities far from the front lines of the war.
Ukrainian officials listed numerous buildings that had suffered damage, including several high-rise apartment blocks.
In Darnytskyi district, an eastern suburb, a five-story building had been partly destroyed, Tkachenko said, and rescue teams were searching the rubble for trapped residents.
Emergency crews are tackling the aftermath of the attacks at more than 20 sites in the capital, he said.
Ukraine's national power grid operator said that Russia's overnight attack damaged energy facilities in several regions, prompting local power cuts.
The attack on critical infrastructure in central Ukraine's Vinnytsia region cut power to 60,000 consumers, regional official Natalia Zabolotna said on Thursday.
The EU delegation's building in the city was also damaged in the strike, EU Commissioner Marta Kos said on Thursday.
"The EU Delegation in Kyiv was damaged by today’s Russian strikes on civilian areas," Kos said in a post on X/Twitter. "I strongly condemn these brutal attacks, a clear sign that Russia rejects peace and chooses terror. Our full solidarity goes to EU staff, their families, and all Ukrainians enduring this aggression."
Ukrainian attack on Russian oil
Separately, Moscow's Defence Ministry said that Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, which had targeted at least seven regions.
In the overnight attack, Ukraine's forces attacked Afipsky and Kuybyshevskyi oil refineries, according to the Ukrainian drone forces commander.