Putin has launched a large scale drone attack on Kyiv that has killed at least nine people and injured another 70, including six children, Ukrainian officials say.
Russia‘s overnight combined missile and drone attack triggered fires, smashed buildings and buried residents under rubble in the Ukrainian capital.
At least 45 drones were detected, the Kyiv City Military Administration said, adding that Ukraine’s Air Force would update the figures later.
‘There has been destruction. The search is continuing for people under rubble,’ the State Emergency Service wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
The attacks come at a critical moment in the war, as both Kyiv and Moscow are under pressure from the United States to show progress towards a peace deal.
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky clashed again on Wednesday on efforts to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine, with Trump accusing him of ‘prolonging the ‘killing field’ by refusing to give up territory.
Trump warned the Ukrainian president he can ‘have peace, or he can fight for another three years before losing the whole country’.
The White House tried to turn the screw yesterday, with vice president JD Vance telling Kyiv to surrender land or the US would walk away.
But Zelensky is refusing to countenance any Russian claim to annexed Crimea, or hand over a fifth of the country to the Kremlin, as per the US-dictated deal put forward.
Putin has launched a large scale drone attack on Kyiv that has killed at least nine people and injured another 70, including six children, Ukrainian officials say. Pictured are rescuers working the site of an apartment building in Kyiv that hit by a Russian ballistic missile overnight
Rescuers pull victims from the rubble of a missile strike on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine early this morning
A ballistic missile explodes in the sky over Kyiv during a Russian drone strike that hit at least five neighbourhoods in the Ukrainian capital overnight
The attack, which began around 1am local time, hit at least five neighbourhoods in Kyiv, officials report.
Pictures posted on Telegram showed rescue teams working with floodlights, moving cautiously through piles of rubble and clambering up ladders extended along the facades of buildings.
At least 42 people were hospitalised in Kyiv, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. Rescue operations were still underway early morning Thursday to find bodies under the rubble.
Police were calling from apartment to apartment to determine whether residents were safe. Rescue teams, the emergency service said, were operating at 13 sites in the capital with climbing specialists and sniffer dogs. Forty fires had broken out.
‘Mobile telephones are heard ringing beneath rubble. The search will continue until it become clear that they have got everyone,’ it said.
Fires had broken out in garages, administrative buildings and falling metal fragments had struck vehicles. In Sviatoshynkskyi district, a fire broke out in a residential building that was damaged in the attack.
Additional blazes were reported in the Shevchenkivsky and Holosiivskyi districts.
An air raid alert was in effect in the capital for six hours. Meanwhile, there has been no comment from Russia.
The attack began around 1am local time and an air raid alert was in effect in the capital for six hours. Pictured is a ballistic missile flying in the sky over Kyiv early this morning
A resident reacts after an apartment building in Kyiv is hit by a Russian ballistic missile today
Ukrainian rescuers operate at the site of a Russian missile attack in Kyiv on April 24, 2025
A ‘massive’ Russian missile attack on Kyiv on April 24, 2025, killed at least nine and wounded dozens in one of the deadliest strikes on the Ukrainian capital since Moscow launched its invasion more than three years ago
The attack came hours after peace negotiations appeared to stall, with Trump lashing out at Zelensky. The US president has claimed ‘it’s been harder’ to deal with Zelensky than Russia.
Planned high-level talks in London were scuppered yesterday when two members of Trump’s top team suddenly pulled out.
Peace envoy Steve Witkoff and secretary of state Marco Rubio were due to sit down with UK, European and Ukrainian officials, hosted by Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
But in a humiliating move, they withdrew at the 11th hour, sending Ukraine special envoy Keith Kellogg instead, as Kyiv refused to buckle to American ultimatums.
Instead, Witkoff was said to be on his way to Moscow last night for a meeting with Putin tomorrow.
US attempts to strong-arm Ukraine into concessions have also placed strain on the ‘special relationship’ with Britain.
Downing Street insisted that ‘substantive’ talks were still possible. But privately ministers are furious about the US stance – and alarmed that the White House is poised to sell out Ukraine’s interests to Putin.
One minister told The Daily Mail: ‘The US are f***ing up everything – on Ukraine, on tariffs, on everything.’
The attack came hours after peace negotiations appeared to stall, with US President Donald Trump (pictured yesterday) accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of ‘prolonging the ‘killing field’ by refusing to give up territory
Zelensky (pictured arriving at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria, South Africa this morning) is refusing to countenance any Russian claim to annexed Crimea, or hand over a fifth of the country to the Kremlin, as per the US-dictated deal put forward.
Last night former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace told the Mail: ‘The next war will happen not because of Ukraine’s actions but because of Donald Trump and his red-neck team of Walter Mittys, media pundits and real estate salesmen who fail to understand the world we live in.
‘Every point on Trump’s latest ‘deal’ strengthens the Kremlin and weakens the West. Every point emboldens Iran and China.
‘The consequences for ordinary Americans is great. If Trump continues this way the great country of the United States will find itself isolated, friendless and broke.’
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Britain will ‘never walk away from Ukraine’.
Under terms put forward by the US, Ukraine would give up captured land and be barred from joining NATO.
Russia, meanwhile, would receive billions of pounds in frozen assets and economic sanctions imposed following its 2022 illegal invasion would be relaxed.
The US would recognise Crimea – illegally invaded in 2014 – as the Kremlin’s, while Washington would take control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power station and feed electricity to Russia.
A man sits on the ground outside of a house damaged by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine early this morning
Ukrainian rescuers are pictured extinguishing a fire at the site of a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine early this morning
An explosion of a drone is seen in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine today
Trump had earmarked today as the day to sign a deal guaranteeing $1billion from exports of Ukraine’s rare minerals as pay back for US military support.
Regarding conceding defeat over Crimea, Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal: ‘There’s nothing to discuss – this lies outside our constitution. This is our territory, the land of the Ukrainian people. This will not happen.’
Last night Trump ranted on his Truth Social platform: ‘Zelensky is boasting that Ukraine will not legally recognise the occupation of Crimea. He has nothing to boast about.
‘Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion.
‘Nobody is asking Zelensky to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it 11 years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired? Inflammatory statements like that make it so difficult to settle this war.
‘He can have peace or he can fight for another three years before losing the whole country. The statement by Zelensky will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field’ and nobody wants that.
‘We are very close to a deal but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should, finally, GET IT DONE. I look forward to being able to help Ukraine, and Russia get out of this complete and total MESS.’
Rescuers work at the site of a Russian airstrike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the town of Sloviansk, Donetsk region Ukraine April 23, 2025
Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze following a drone attack in Poltava, Ukraine on Tuesday
A Ukrainian serviceman of the 108th Territorial Defence Forces Brigade carries an artillery shell at a frontline position, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region last month
Vance earlier yesterday told reporters during a trip to India: ‘We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it is time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from the process.’
Conceding sovereignty of the Crimea peninsula was one of seven clauses in a peace plan put together by Witkoff following a five-hour meeting with Putin in St Petersburg last week.
Russia would also keep four provinces in eastern Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – making the millions of Ukrainians living there Russian citizens overnight.
Last night, Zelensky posted a conciliatory message on X, writing: ‘Emotions have run high today. But it is good that five countries met to bring peace closer. Ukraine, the USA, the UK, France and Germany…We hope that it is exactly such joint work that will lead to lasting peace.’
