Russian attacks on Ukraine kill 14 civilians as Zelenskyy travels to UK

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian drones and missiles killed at least 14 civilians and injured several dozen others in Ukraine in overnight attacks, local officials said Monday, with nine deaths reported in the capital, Kyiv, where an apartment building partially collapsed.

The attacks came as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began a visit to the United Kingdom, where he met privately with King Charles III.

Russia fired 352 drones and decoys overnight, as well as 11 ballistic missiles and five cruise missiles, Ukraine’s air force said. Air defenses intercepted or jammed 339 drones and 15 missiles before they could reach their targets, a statement said.

A Russian ballistic missile strike destroyed a high school later in the day in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, killing two staff, authorities said. No children were on the premises due to the summer vacation, said Zelenskyy, who described the strike as “absolutely insane.”

The strikes came nearly a week after a Russian attack killed 28 people in Kyiv, 23 of them in a residential building that collapsed after a direct missile hit. Russia has also hit civilian areas with long-range strikes in an apparent attempt to weaken Ukrainian morale.

‘Coalition of murderers’

Russian forces have been trying to drive deeper into Ukraine as part of a summer push along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though the Institute for the Study of War said progress has failed to make significant gains.

“Russian forces are largely relying on poorly trained infantry to make gains in the face of Ukraine’s drone-based defense,” the Washington-based think tank said late Sunday.

Zelenskyy said preliminary data indicated that Russian forces used North Korean missiles in the Kyiv strike. He described Russia, North Korea and Iran, which has provided drones to Russia, as a “coalition of murderers.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s defense and new ways to pressure Russia would be the main topics in his visit to the United Kingdom. Zelenskyy met privately with King Charles III and stayed for lunch, Buckingham Palace said. He later met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of this week’s NATO summit in The Hague.

Drones hit hospitals and residential areas

Drones and missiles hit residential areas, hospitals and sports infrastructure in numerous districts across Kyiv, emergency services said.

The most severe damage was in Shevchenkivskyi district, where a section of a five-story apartment building collapsed.

Nine people were killed in the district, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Ten others, including a pregnant woman, were rescued from a nearby high-rise that also sustained heavy damage. Dozens of vehicles were burned or mangled by flying debris.

Oleksii Pozychaniuk, 29, who lives in the building next to the one struck, said he heard the whistle of the rocket approaching and “froze in terror” before feeling the impact.

“Windows burst out, glass was flying everywhere,” he said. “We barely made it downstairs with my child. Everything here was on fire.”

Klitschko said rescue workers were searching for survivors.

The Russian attack also damaged the entrance to the Sviatoshyn subway station in Kyiv, slightly injuring two people, said Timur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration. He said more than 30 people were injured across the city.

Underground subway stations have served as shelters for those seeking protection from aerial attacks. During almost nightly strikes, stations across Kyiv are often filled with people waiting out the danger.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the latest strikes demonstrated Russia’s “unlimited cruelty” by deliberately aiming at civilian targets, and promised more European sanctions on Moscow.

Long process to identify returned remains

Elsewhere in Ukraine, a drone attack killed two people and wounded 10 more in the Chernihiv region late Sunday, authorities said. Three children were among the wounded, according to the regional administration head, Viacheslav Chaus.

Another person was killed and eight wounded overnight in the city of Bila Tserkva, around 85 kilometers (53 miles) southwest of the capital.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 23 Ukrainian drones overnight into Monday.

Ukraine will take at least a year to identify the thousands of soldiers’ bodies repatriated by Russia and establish whether Moscow has mistakenly included more of its servicemen, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

Zelenskyy said Friday that Russia had included at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Ukraine, describing it as a result of Moscow’s disorganization in carrying out large swaps of wounded POWs and remains.

At least five of the bodies can be proven to be Russian, Klymenko told a press conference, with tests being conducted on others. Journalists were shown uniforms and items including cigarettes belonging to what Ukraine said were the five Russians.