Russian overnight strikes kill 14 in Kyiv as drones hit across Ukraine

At least 14 people were killed in an overnight attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration.

“According to initial reports, there are already 14 deaths in Kyiv,” Mr Tkachenko said early Tuesday, adding that rescuers were still searching the rubble for more victims, The New York Times reported.

Waves of Russian drones and missiles struck several districts across Kyiv, damaging residential buildings and sparking fires, city officials said.

Reuters reported witnesses hearing missiles overhead and seeing drones swarming across the capital. An air raid alert remained in place for over seven hours.

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said many of the casualties occurred in the Solomianskyi district, near the city centre, where a drone hit the top floor of an apartment building and other non-residential structures. Mr Tkachenko reported 12 strikes across five districts, including one that hit a kindergarten on the eastern edge of the city.

“This is a very difficult night,” he said, noting power outages in some areas following the attacks.

Other parts of the country also came under fire, including areas outside the capital and the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where the regional governor reported at least four strikes.

Mr Klitschko also reported the death of a 62-year-old US citizen in a building opposite a site where medics were providing assistance. Further details were not provided, and it remains unclear how the man died.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said two Ukrainian drones approached the city and were intercepted by air defences. Airports in the Russian capital were briefly closed.

Despite two recent rounds of direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, large-scale drone attacks from both sides have continued. Agreements from the talks have so far focused on the exchange of prisoners of war and the return of fallen soldiers’ bodies.