Kyiv cries after a deadliest Russian attack in one year kills 31 people, including 5 children

The Ukrainian capital of kyiv observed an official day of mourning on Friday, one day after a Russian drone and a missile attack against the city killed 31 people, including five children, and injured more than 150, officials announced.

The youngest victim of Thursday strikes was two and 16 of the injured were children, said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It was the greatest number of children killed and injured in a single attack on kyiv since air attacks against the city began in October 2022, according to official figures from the association reported by the Associated Press. It was also the deadliest attack in the city since July of last year, when 33 were killed.

The number of deaths increased overnight while the emergency teams continued to dig through the rubble. The Russian dam has demolished a large part of a nine -story residential building in the city, while more than 100 other buildings have been damaged, including houses, schools, kindergarten, medical facilities and universities, officials said.

Russia has increased its attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months, ignoring the calls of Western leaders, notably the American president Donald Trump, to arrest striking civil zones after more than three years of war.

The Russian forces also put pressure on their grinding lodge war along the 1000 km front line, where additional gains in the past year have had the price of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

Ukraine wants more sanctions against Russia

Zelenskyy said that in July, Russia had launched more than 5,100 Glide bombs, more than 3,800 Shahed drones and nearly 260 missiles of various types, including 128 ballistics, against Ukraine.

He repeated his appeal to countries to impose heavier economic sanctions on Russia to dissuade the Kremlin, because the peace efforts led by the United States failed to gain ground.

“No matter how much the Kremlin derives efficiency (sanctions), they work and must be stronger,” said Zelenskyy.

Look | The rescuers leave people from the rubble after the Russian attack hits the apartment plot in Kyiv:

“ I was in shock ”, says the resident of Kyiv after the deadly Russian strikes

The rescuers rushed to the scene of a deadly Russian attack Thursday after a volley of drones and missiles struck a building.

His comments on Friday seemed to be a response to Trump remarks the day before, when the republican president said that the United States planned to impose sanctions on Russia, but added: “I do not know that the sanctions were disturbing it”, in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In April, Trump urged the Russian chief to “stop!” After an air attack on Kyiv killed 12 in what was the deadliest assault in the city since July 2024.

“Allows you to make the peace agreement!” Trump said in an article on his Truth social platform at the time, but Russia did not release his dams. Earlier this week, Trump gave Putin until August 8 to stop the fighting.

These requests did not convince the Kremlin to change the strategy. Putin said on Friday that the conditions that Moscow stated last year for a long-term ceasefire agreement were still arising. Putin previously clearly indicated that he would only accept a regulation on his conditions and will continue to fight until they are met.

“Any disappointment arises from excessive expectations,” said Putin about negotiations. He didn’t mention Trump by name.

Putin said he considered the recent direct talks in Istanbul between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine as precious, even if they have made no progress beyond the exchanges of prisoners of war, and have made no reference to the deadline of next week imposed by Trump.

Putin said Russia had started to produce new hypersonic missiles. Oreshnik’s multiple warheads plunge a target at speeds until Mach 10 and cannot be stopped by the air defenses, he said.

Ukraine called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to convene on Friday, said Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, in order to push Putin to accept “a complete, immediate and unconditional cease-fire”.

Russian forces relate to an eastern Ukrainian city

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian forces undergo strong pressure in the strategic city of Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk Eastern region, where Russia makes a concerted push to unravel the defenses after some 18 months of fighting.

Zelenskyy said Russian allegations to capture Chasiv Yar on Thursday were a “disinformation”.

“The Ukrainian units occupy our positions,” said Zelenskyy in his daily video address Thursday evening. “It is not easy, but it is the defense of Ukrainians very well in life.”

Despite this, the Institute for the Study of War said that the grip of Ukraine on the key city is weakening.

“The Russian forces will probably end up the seizure of CHASIV YAR in the coming days, which will open several possible avenues for the Russian forces to attack the fortress belt of Ukraine – a series of fortified cities which form the dorsal thorn of the defensive positions of Ukraine” in the Donetsk region, said the Washington -based thinking group.

Ukraine has tried to put pressure on the Russian army by hitting rear areas with long -range drones that target rail networks, oil depots and arsenals.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that air defenses killed 60 Ukrainian drones overnight. More than half were destroyed in the Russian region of Belgorod on the country’s border with Ukraine, he said. Belgorod Vyacheslav Gladkov said that a person was injured.

The Ukrainian Air Force, on the other hand, said on Friday that it had dropped 44 of the 72 Russian drones drawn during the night. There was no immediate report of victims or damage.