Russia hits Kyiv with drones and ballistic missiles, killing 1 and injuring 16

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with a mass drone and missile attack early Thursday morning that killed at least one and injured 16 people, local authorities said.

Damage was recorded across six districts of Kyiv, according to head of Kyiv’s Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko. He warned Russia was attacking the capital with ballistic missiles and drones. Residential buildings and civilian infrastructure was damaged.

In the Darnytsia district, a multistory residential building partially collapsed splitting the structure in half and burying people under the rubble. At least 10 people were rescued from the rubble, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.

At the scene, emergency workers searched for survivors as smoke from the attack continued to smolder beneath the pile of rubble.

Resident Lyudmila Hlushko, 78, said she heard a lot of explosions and the sound of rockets flying around 3 a.m. “Then the house shook violently and there was a loud bang, breaking the glass in my house,” she said.

In the Dnieper district, a drone hit the roof of a five-story residential building, Tkachenko said. Another building in the Dniprovskyi district was also damaged.

Explosions were heard across the capital early morning Thursday.

The attack came hours after a rare daytime attack on Kyiv that killed at least six people, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The assault, which involved 800 drones, struck about 20 regions of Ukraine and was among the longest such attacks during the war.

Zelenskyy said the attack that lasted hours Wednesday aimed to cause as much “pain and grief” as possible.

The attack came after U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he believes Moscow and Kyiv will soon reach a deal to end fighting. Putin said in a speech last weekend that his invasion of Ukraine is possibly “coming to an end.”

But neither leader has provided details about what has changed to make a peace deal possible. Moscow and Kyiv maintain mutually exclusive demands. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts over the past year to end the war have fizzled after making no progress on key issues, such as whether Russia gets to keep Ukrainian land it has seized and what can be done to deter Moscow from invading again.