Russia killed at least 12 people, injured 90 people early on Thursday in a major attack on the Ukrainian capital, urging President Trump to issue a rare public criticism of Moscow just hours after assaulting Ukrainian President Volodymia Zelensky.
Since last summer, the attacks have been the deadliest in the capital, Kiev. The explosion shook the building, sending over 16,000 people to the subway system and evacuated it. As the sun rose, the clouds rose over the city.
One missile crashed into a two-storey building in 12 apartments where paramedics hunted for the survivors. The next five-storey building lost all its windows. People stood outside, staring at the damage, talking on their cell phones, telling their loved ones they were alive. No military targets were visible nearby.
Zelensky said nearly 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and around 150 attack drones, targeted cities across the country, but Kiev was hit hardest.
Around the same time, Trump assaulted Russian President Vladimir V. Putin about the attack, showing how his administration’s position was reversed without warning.
“Vladimir, stop!” Trump posted social socially on the Russian strike, saying he was “not happy.” “It’s not necessary, it’s very bad timing,” the post added.
The attack came hours after Trump and his top aides demanded that Kiev accept a US-designed plan that would appear to grant Russia all the territory they had obtained in the war that began with a full-scale invasion of Moscow in February 2022. So far, Zelensky said Ukraine cannot accept such a transaction.
Before shortening his trip to South Africa, which now holds the presidency of a group of 20 people, Zelensky said at a press conference in Pretoria that he thought Russia was not under pressure to agree to a ceasefire. He said he would put more pressure on Moscow and “will be able to approach a complete, unconditional ceasefire.” To him, Zelensky added, and it seemed that the attack on Kiev was meant to instead put pressure on the US.
“We were attacked, we were occupied, and many children and adults were buried alive,” he said. “This is a huge compromise that we are ready to sit at the table where we negotiate with terrorists.”
At the same press conference, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa threw his weight into the back of Ukraine, criticising what he called a prerequisite before negotiations began. He reaffirmed that “the only path to peace is through diplomacy, comprehensive dialogue and commitment to the principles of the UN Charter.”
Since Trump took office in January, his administration has reflected the points of the Kremlin story in the war, a reversal of previous US policy under the Biden administration. Last week, the Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to leave the peace process.
On Wednesday, planned peace talks in London were downgraded primarily due to the US decision not to attend.
Trump later called Zelensky “inflammatory” in a social media post, saying the Ukrainian president “just extends the “sacrificed field.”
“The president’s frustration. His patience is running very thin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters later Wednesday. She reverberated on Trump, who appears to blame Zelensky, saying that Ukrainian leaders are “moving in the wrong direction.”
On Thursday, in his true social post, Trump said he “want to make a peace deal.”
Zelensky previously pointed out that Ukraine had accepted the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in March, but Putin refused to agree to the plan. Putin announced a temporary Easter Sunday ceasefire, which seemed more like a public relations stunt than a ceasefire along the frontline. At least, Ukrainian cities were largely spared due to the 30 hours of the armistice.
But that wasn’t the case early on Thursday. Immediately after midnight, the first air alarm went off.
Yevhenii Plakhotnikov, 40, lives across the street from his two-storey apartment building that was attacked by missiles. He says he’s woken up to the alarm and hears the lively sound of the drone before starting to get dressed. The message on Telegram – a messaging platform where many Ukrainians rely on missile alerts – said the ballistic missiles have been launched.
Plakhotnikov said he went down the hallway to put on his shoes.
“I heard the first blast while wearing my second sneaker,” he recalled in an interview. “Then I heard something heavy fall. All the doors in my interior were torn in half. I opened the door and saw a rap shotgun flying.”
He said he helped drive others out of his building. There, a man stood there, covered in blood.
Tetiana Flynenko, 58, stood on the street, covered her mouth with her hands and looked up at the abandoned apartment next to a flat building.
“The most important thing is we are alive,” Hrynenko said, adding that she heard the two explosions and smelled burning as she saw the dust clouds. She added: “People were screaming and asking for help. I saw the stairwell. There were no stairs. And I live on the fifth floor.”
The residents managed to clean up the staircases on the wreckage, allowing Mulinenko and others to take it outside.
Dozens of classmates and friends of 17-year-old Danilo Kudiya stayed up all night on Thursday afternoon. A teenager known as Danya was missing with his parents under the tile rub. Seeing the paramedics dig the boy remained stonework, but many of the girls, including Danya’s girlfriend, shimmered sobs.
“I’m waiting for Danya,” said Dennis, 19, who didn’t want to give his last name.
Ukrainian officials say Russia has only stepped up attacks on civilians since the start of US-led peace talks.
Andri Yelmack, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, posted a video on social media on Thursday showing emergency workers. “One more, Russia is attacking civilians,” he said. Other Ukrainian officials urged Western partners to replenish Kiev’s air defenses.
The attack on Kiev on Thursday was one of the deadliest wars in the capital and the worst assault since July, when Russian missiles destroyed a children’s hospital and killed more than 20 people in the city. The recent deadly missile strikes have targeted cities in Smee and Crivily, causing heavy civilian casualties.
By Thursday evening, Kiev’s death toll had climbed as paramedics recovered more bodies from the tile rub. Just after 5pm local time, emergency workers walked to the teenager crowd, asking for Danya’s identification mark. The worker found the body of a teenage boy inside the tile rub. The teenager volunteered in tears.
“Your friend is no longer with us,” the worker told the teenager. And then defeated, they left to go home.
Those affected by the strike said they wanted the war to be brought to an end, but could not see them accepting a one-sided deal that would benefit Russia.
“I was very disappointed yesterday that negotiations hadn’t progressed, and overnight afterwards it hit me directly,” said Hrynenko while investigating her damaged apartment. “I’m disappointed. I’m tired.”
Plakhotnikov said he doesn’t know the way in Ukraine.
“There’s no point in continuing the war,” he said. “But it’s impossible to stop.”
Andrew E. Kramer contributed to reports from Kalkiv from Ukraine, Ukraine, Olexandra Maikolisin, from Kiev, Ukraine, and Zimasa Matiwan of Johannesburg, South Africa.
