KYIV: A massive Russian drone and missile barrage killed at least 19 people in cities across Ukraine, more than four years into the war with talks on ending the conflict stalled.

Journalists heard loud bangs echoing over the capital during the night and saw huge plumes of black smoke rising over central Kyiv at dawn. More than 100 people were wounded in the attacks that ripped through apartment buildings in the middle of the night.

Ukrainian President Zelensky, on a tour of Europe, called for a minute of silence for those killed, at an event in a church in the Netherlands. “Today in Ukraine is another very hard day, a really hard night, the day after a massive Russian attack,” he said. The attack “has proven Russia does not deserve any easing of global policy or lifting of sanctions,” he wrote on social media.

EU council chief Antonio Costa accused Russia of choosing to “deliberately terrorise civilians”, decrying the overnight killing as a “horrendous attack against civilian targets”.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 659 drones and 44 missiles in an attack that started on Wed­ne­­sday daytime and stretched until dawn on Thursday. The Russian army said it had “carried out a massive strike” against Ukrainian military and energy targets.

Kyiv has also stepped up its own long-range drone and missile attacks on Russia.

Strikes overnight killed two people, including a child in southern Russia, officials said. The Russian army said its forces intercepted 207 Ukrainian drones across its western and southern regions.

In the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, four people were killed, including a 12-year-old boy, and at least 62 wounded, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2026