Kyiv officially declared a day of mourning on Friday, a day after Russian drone and missile strikes killed 31 people, including five children, and injured more than 150, authorities said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that the youngest victim of the attacks on Thursday was two years old, and the number of injured minors reached sixteen.
According to the Associated Press, this is the highest number of child casualties in a single attack on the capital since regular air strikes began in October 2022.
The death toll increased overnight as rescuers cleared the rubble. The Russian strike destroyed a significant portion of the nine-story building, and damaged more than a hundred structures, including residential complexes, educational institutions, hospitals and universities, official sources reported.
Authorities say Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months, ignoring demands from Western politicians, including US President Donald Trump, to stop shelling residential areas after more than three years of conflict.
Along a 1,000-kilometer front line, the Russian army continues a gruelling standoff where slow progress over the past year has resulted in thousands of military casualties on both sides.
According to Zelensky, in July, Russian forces launched over 5,100 glide bombs, more than 3,800 Shahid-type kamikaze drones, and about 260 missiles of various classes, including 128 ballistic missiles, at Ukraine.
He again demanded that the international community increase economic pressure on Russia through sanctions, given the futility of US-mediated peace initiatives.
“The Kremlin can deny the effectiveness of restrictive measures as much as it wants, but they are effective and need to be tightened,” the Ukrainian leader emphasized.
The statements, made on Friday, are seen as a response to Trump, who the day before announced plans to impose anti-Russian sanctions but doubted their impact on Vladimir Putin.
Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha reported Ukraine's demand for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to put pressure on the Russian president to achieve a “complete, immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”
In the east of the country, Ukrainian troops are facing fierce pressure in the area of Chasov Yar, a strategic height in the Donetsk region where Russia is trying to break through the defenses after almost a year and a half of fighting.
Zelensky denied Moscow's claims about the capture of the settlement on Thursday, calling them “fake.”
“Our units maintain control over the positions,” he said in a daily video address. “This is a difficult task, but we are defending the right of Ukrainians to life.”
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday that 60 Ukrainian drones had been neutralized in the past 24 hours.
Most of them, according to their data, were shot down over the border Belgorod region.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
