KYIV: A Russian ballistic missile strike in Ukraine’s Kyiv region on Friday killed 10 people and injured close to 100 at the site of a defence industry event that President Volodymyr Zelensky said should never have taken place.

Ukraine’s emergency service said its crews had completed rescue operations at the site north of the capital.

Pictures posted online by the emergency service showed teams sifting through piles of rubble at the site, adjacent to several houses.

“Of course, the cause of this attack is Russian missiles, nothing but Russian terror,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

“However, we have said a thousand times that under these wartime conditions, with such an enemy, it is absolutely unacceptable to hold any weapons exhibitions with large crowds of people, especially near residential buildings.” The event, hosted by a drone manufacturers association, was taking place in an area a short drive from the outskirts of the capital.

A spokesperson for the military’s general staff said the event took place at a site not under its jurisdiction, but added that any such event required “maximum security measures”.

The acting governor of Kyiv region, Ruslan Oliynyk, said that a day of mourning would be observed on Saturday.

Ukraine’s council of defence industry said that a missile strike hit a site where representatives of defence industry were present.

It said it was not an organiser of the event.

Valerii Borovyk, founder of Ukrainian drone company First Contact, told Ukrainian media that a missile struck a training ground where a defence industry exhibition was being held.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, said that a criminal case had been opened on possible failure to perform official duties during the organisation and conduct of the event.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2026