Kyiv, Ukraine — Early Saturday morning, Russia conducted missile and drone strikes on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. The attacks resulted in one fatality and over 20 injuries, according to local authorities. This event occurred a day prior to scheduled discussions between Ukrainian and U.S. officials.
Explosions were reported across Kyiv for several hours as ballistic missiles and drones impacted the city, with the activity continuing into daylight hours.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia targeted Ukraine with approximately 500 drones and 40 missiles of various types. He identified energy and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv as primary targets. Reports indicate power and heating outages in some districts due to these attacks.
Minister of Interior Ihor Klymenko reported damage to over 10 residential buildings, prompting emergency services to initiate evacuations from collapsed structures. The head of Kyiv's City Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, confirmed that seven locations across the city were affected, with two children among the wounded. The fatality was discovered under the debris of a damaged building.
Specific incidents reported included:
- A fire at an 18-story residential building in the Dnipro district.
- An impact on a 24-story residential building in the Darnytsia district.
- Additional fires reported in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivsky districts.
In the broader Kyiv region, strikes affected industrial and residential buildings, with one individual rescued from a destroyed house in the Vyshhorod area. The attacks precede a planned meeting between President Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, where discussions are expected to cover security guarantees and territorial issues in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, in efforts to conclude the ongoing nearly four-year conflict.