Ukraine targeted by Russian missiles; EU and British offices affected
Russia has carried out a series of deadly Ukraine missile strike early on Thursday in retaliation for renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Kyiv authorities confirmed at least 18 people, including four children, had been killed. By daylight, rescue workers were combing the rubble of a residential building on the left bank of the capital’s Dnipro river, and at least two bodies were being extracted.
In the capital, Russian missiles Ukraine also hit the European Union mission offices and the British Council. There were no immediate reports of casualties at either, but both the EU and UK called in Russian diplomats to protest. “Russia chooses missiles over dialogue,” Zelenskiy said on X. “It chooses killing instead of peace.” He said Western allies should impose new sanctions on Moscow.
The attacks targeted EU offices damaged Ukraine and airbases, the Russian defence ministry said, also claiming that Ukraine had shelled Russian positions and that the Kremlin was continuing to back peace negotiations. But Zelenskiy pointed out that many of the recent strikes, including the latest on Thursday, had been on civilians, with thousands killed since Russia invaded at the start of last year.
Ukraine’s air force said a series of explosions could be heard across Kyiv as drones circled in the night sky. “This is one of the heaviest we have seen in recent months,” the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on X.
Talks by Kyiv and its Western allies to negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion, which began in February last year, have made little progress. Russia has stepped up British offices Ukraine attack on cities well behind the front lines, while its offensives in the east seek to force territorial concessions.
“This is yet another grim reminder of what is at stake,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “The Kremlin is bent on terrorising Ukraine, indiscriminately killing civilians and even striking the European Union’s presence.” She added that EU governments were preparing a 19th package of sanctions and were also discussing using frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.
