Russian Missile Barrage Kills 13 in Kyiv, Damages Children's Hospital

KYIV, Ukraine —

Russian missiles struck Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight into Thursday, killing at least 13 people and wounding 33, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and Ukraine's Emergency Service. The barrage cut electricity to about 90,000 homes, though the power company DTEK said more than half had been reconnected by Thursday morning, Euronews reported.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched dozens of ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles, including Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic weapons, Iskander and North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles, along with 168 Shahed drones, in the overnight assault, The Guardian reported.

Homes, Hospital and Warehouses Hit

Explosions hit at least 12 locations across Kyiv's Darnytskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts, damaging residential buildings, a medical facility and a school, according to Euronews. The top two floors of a nine-story apartment block in the Solomianskyi district were destroyed, with fires spreading across several floors, Klitschko said. Rescuers pulled nine injured people from the rubble, but two residents in that building died, according to Al Jazeera.

A children's hospital in the same district was damaged, with windows blown out and cars burned on the grounds, Klitschko said. In the Brovary district of the wider Kyiv region, one man was killed and another wounded when a strike hit an industrial facility, regional Governor Tymur Tkachenko said. "All relevant services are on site, working to extinguish the fire," he said.

Neighbors Scramble Jets as Zelenskyy Presses for Response

The attack triggered security responses beyond Ukraine's borders. Poland's military command said it mobilized aircraft and activated air defenses near the Ukrainian border, The Guardian reported. Romania's defense ministry said radar detected aerial targets overnight, prompting it to scramble two Spanish fighter jets on NATO duty and a Romanian air force helicopter. A drone crossed into Romanian airspace near Galati before crashing in an unpopulated part of Tulcea county, the ministry said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a stronger international reaction to the strikes. "While Moscow is investing in ballistic missiles and escalation, such strikes do not always receive the response they should from the world," he wrote on social media, according to The Guardian. "And as long as Ukraine does not have enough anti-ballistic defense, Russia will not consider peace seriously."

The strike came as Ukraine awaits a response after handing peace proposals to U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner aimed at ending the war, ABC Australia reported. Russia's defense ministry said it shot down 726 Ukrainian drones overnight, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said about 250 drones had been aimed at the Moscow region, most destroyed before reaching the capital, The Guardian reported.