KYIV: Russia pounded Ukraine with deadly missiles and drone str­ikes early on Thursday in a swe­­e­ping attack that Pres­ident Volo­dymyr Zelensky said was Moscow’s answer to diplomatic efforts to end the war.

Eighteen people, inclu­ding four children, were killed in the capital. As the sun rose, rescuers dug thr­ough a wrecked block on Kyiv’s left bank and pulled two bodies from the rubble.

The strikes damaged the Eur­o­pean Union’s mission and British Council offices in the city. The Eu­­ropean Union and London summoned Russian env­oys to protest. “Russia ch­­o­­­­­­­­­­o­­­ses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” Zel­­ensky said on X, calling for new sanctions on Russia.

“It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war.” Russia said its attack had hit military industrial facilities and air bases, and that Ukra­ine had also attacked Rus­s­­ian targets. The Kremlin said it was still interested in pursuing peace talks.

Moscow has regularly denied targeting civilians. Ukrainian officials say scores of civilians have died in Russian strikes on densely populated areas over the recent months, and thousands since the start of the war.

During the attack on Kyiv, explosions rang out as clouds of smoke rose into the night sky. Drones whirred overhead.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko desc­ribed it as one of the biggest attacks on the city in recent months. Thi­rty-eight people were wou­nded in the hours-long ass­ault which damaged buildings in all city districts.

Across the country, Ukr­a­ine’s military said Russian attacks str­u­ck 13 locations. National grid ope­rator Ukrenergo said energy fac­­­ilities were hit, causing power cuts.

A push by Kyiv and its allies to end the invasion that Moscow launched in Feb 2022 has yielded little, despite meetings between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts.

Russia has stepped up air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities far behind the front line and pushed a grinding offensive across much of the east in a bid to pressure Ukraine into giving up territory.

‘Another grim reminder’

“This is another grim reminder of what is at stake. It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorise Ukraine, blindly killing civilians and even targeting the European Union,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels.

She said two missiles had struck near the office within 20 seconds of each other.

The EU would soon come up with a 19th package of sanctions against Russia and was advancing work on how to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, she added.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the assault, which he said had damaged the British Council building.

“Putin is killing children and civilians and sabotaging hopes of peace,” he wrote on X.

Ukraine’s military said air defences had downed 563 of nearly 600 drones and 26 of 31 missiles launched by Russia across the country.

One attack damaged a railway hub in central Ukraine’s Vinnytsia region, where officials said a strike on critical infrastructure had left 60,000 residents without power.

Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia would step up strikes on the country’s energy grid as winter approaches.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2025