The EU and the UK government are summoning top Russian diplomats after EU and British Council offices were hit in the latest deadly attack on Kyiv.
Russian air strikes have killed at least 15 people and wounded 48 in a succession of attacks on Kyiv overnight in the most deadly night raid on the Ukrainian capital for several weeks.
The attacks on Ukraine’s capital also damaged the EU delegation’s building in the city, the EU Commission said on Thursday.
The delegation’s staff were safe, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. She called on Russia to stop its “indiscriminatory attacks on civilian infrastructure and join negotiations for a just and lasting peace”.
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Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has been in contact with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Ms von der Leyen about Russia’s attack on a building housing the EU’s delegation in Ukraine, he said on Thursday.
Ms Kallas said the EU will be “summoning the Russian envoy in Brussels” to protest against the attack.
The British Council, which promotes cultural relations and educational opportunities, also said its Kyiv offices have been “severely damaged” in the attack overnight and will be closed “until further notice.”
UK foreign secretary David Lammy later said the British government has summoned the Russian ambassador to the UK foreign office.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attacks showed that Russia had no intention of negotiating an end to the war, despite the recent intervention of Donald Trump.
“These Russian missiles and attack drones today are a clear response to everyone in the world who, for weeks and months, has been calling for a ceasefire and for real diplomacy,” he said on social media. “Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table.”
A wave of strikes could be heard from the city centre after 3am and again at about 5.30am, with officials reporting impacts at more than 20 locations, including the destruction of part of a five-storey building in the east of the city.
Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said a 14-year-old girl and another child were among the dead. A total of 45 people had been counted as injured so far, he added.
Three people were rescued from under the rubble of one of the sites, said Ihor Klymenko, the interior affairs minister, adding that more people could be buried under the rubble as rescue efforts continued.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it carried out a strike against military airbases and companies “within Ukraine’s military-industrial complex” using long-range weapons, including Kinzhal missiles.
“All designated objects were hit,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also said it shot down 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, mostly in the country’s southwest.
Aerial bombardment of Kyiv had been relatively muted during August, when Mr Trump made a failed attempt to bring about an end to the war by meeting the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska.
But the overnight attack indicated Russia was ready to return to its deadly campaign, with Ukrainian officials reporting that the capital was targeted by ballistic and cruise missiles as well as Shahed drones.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said during the night a “massive attack on the capital” was taking place. Air defence forces were operating, he said, and urged residents to remain in shelters for their protection.
Mr Zelenskiy said there should be an international response and called for further sanctions against Russia, including from China, an ally of Moscow. “We expect a reaction from China to what is going on. China has repeatedly called for not expanding the war and for a ceasefire,” he added.
Hours earlier, Beijing said Mr Putin would be among the leaders attending a military parade with president Xi Jinping in Beijing next week. – Guardian
