European Union leader, Ursula von der Leyen, has expressed her outrage after a Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s capital killed at least 21 people.
The powerful explosions hit Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday morning with Russian projectiles damaging buildings in 33 locations in the districts of the city, including the headquarters of the European Union mission to Ukraine and the British Council.
Among those killed, officials said there were three children killed, aged two, 14 and 17, with several others wounded.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the attacks sabotaged peace effort, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said it was a “deliberate choice to escalate and mock peace efforts”.
While the Kremlin said Russia was still interested in peace negotiations, von der Leyen said the strikes were “another grim reminder” that Russia would "stop at nothing to terrorise Ukraine".
In response to the attacks, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to X to call for more sanctions on Russia, accusing Russia of deliberately striking “ordinary houses and city with swarms of drones”.
“In Washington we heard that Putin is supposedly ready to end the war – to meet at the leaders’ level and resolve key issues,” he said.
“But instead he chooses ballistics over any real steps toward peace.
“Tariffs are needed against those who sponsor this war in one way or another.
“The end of the war is possible thanks to strength, not words, thanks to the strength of pressure on the only one who continues the strikes and drags out any settlement.”
