Russian attacks on Ukraine kill at least 10 and injure dozens
[June 23, 2025]
By JUSTIN SPIKE
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones and missiles killed at least 10
civilians in Ukraine in nighttime attacks, local officials said Monday,
with seven deaths reported in the capital, Kyiv, where emergency crews
raced to find people believed trapped under the rubble of a partially
collapsed apartment building.
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.
The strikes came nearly a week after a combined Russian attack on
Ukraine last Tuesday killed 28 people in Kyiv, 23 of them in a
residential building that collapsed after sustaining a direct missile
hit.
Russian forces have for several months been trying to drive deeper into
Ukraine as part of a renewed summer push along the roughly
1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though the Institute for the
Study of War said their progress has been limited.
“Russian forces have failed to make significant gains during this period
of intensified offensive operations, however, due in part to the fact
that 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.
At the same time, Russia has pounded civilian areas with long-range
strikes in an apparent attempt to weaken public morale.
Ukrainian leader notes role of Iran, North Korea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said preliminary data indicated
that Russian forces used North Korean missiles in the Kyiv strike. He
called Russia, North Korea and Iran, which has provided drones to
Russia, a “coalition of murderers” and warned of a potential spread of
the “terror” if their alliance continues.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s defense and new ways to pressure Russia will be
the two main topics in his visit to the United Kingdom on Monday.
Zelenskyy was to meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London ahead
of this week’s NATO summit in The Hague, Starmer’s office said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the latest strikes
demonstrated Russia’s “unlimited cruelty,” by deliberately taking aim at
civilian targets, and promised more European sanctions on Moscow.
Rescue workers search for survivors
Drones and missiles hit residential areas, hospitals and sports
infrastructure in numerous districts across Kyiv in the early hours of
Monday, emergency services said.
The most severe damage was in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv,
where a section of a five-story apartment building collapsed.
Six people were killed in that district, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko
said. Ten others, including a pregnant woman, were rescued from a nearby
high-rise that also sustained heavy damage in the blast.
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Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in an apartment building
after Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Monday, June 23, 2025.
(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Dozens of vehicles, some burned out and others mangled by flying debris
from the blast, formed a snarl in the courtyard in front of the partly
demolished building, which had collapsed down to the second floor.
Onlookers, some wrapped in blankets, watched tearfully as the cleanup
operation took place. Dozens of volunteers worked to remove broken
glass, downed tree branches and other debris.
Oleksii Pozychaniuk, 29, who lives in the building next to the one
struck in the attack, said he heard the whistle of the rocket
approaching from inside his apartment 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. We didn’t
see the neighboring building yet because everything was covered in
smoke, the cars were smoldering, tires were bursting from the high
temperature which was also scary.”
Klitschko told reporters that rescue workers were still searching the
collapsed building 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.
Since the early days of Russia’s invasion, 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.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, a Russian short-range drone attack killed two
people and wounded 10 more in the Chernihiv region late Sunday night,
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.
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Illia Novikov and Oleksandr Babenko contributed from Kyiv, Ukraine.
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