Rescuers pull dead from rubble of Kyiv flats after massive Russian strikes

A girl, 12, is among the dead after Russia launched attacks across Ukraine overnight, officials say.

In a third consecutive day of intense aerial attacks, Russia targeted Ukraine with drones and missiles, demolishing a nine-story apartment building in Kyiv's Darnytsia district and killing nine civilians, including a 12-year-old girl. Over 30 people were injured, and around 20 remain missing. The strike, coinciding with U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to China, damaged 180 sites nationwide, including over 50 residential buildings, air bases, and defense facilities. Ukraine reported a high interception rate of 93%, though 15 missiles and 23 drones still hit targets. Kyiv and 11 other regions experienced power outages. The Kyiv office of drone manufacturer Skyeton was destroyed, and a marked UN aid vehicle in Kherson was attacked by Russian drones. This wave of bombardments, using advanced Kinzhal missiles, marks one of the largest since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, defying a previously agreed ceasefire. In related political shifts, Hungary summoned the Russian ambassador following an attack near its border, and Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Silina resigned amid coalition instability. Ukrainian officials continue to call for international pressure to end the war.

At least four people have been killed, and children are among dozens wounded after Russia launched a massive wave of drone and missile strikes against Ukraine overnight, officials have said. Three of the dead were pulled from the rubble of a partially destroyed apartment building in Kyiv, police said, where a rescue operation is under way after the capital was bombarded. At least 44 people have been injured, including two children, the city's mayor said. Twenty-one of those are being treated in hospital, including one child. It marks the third day in a row Ukraine has reported deaths, as Moscow ramps up its assault after a three-day ceasefire expired on Monday. The overnight barrage saw more than 670 drones and 56 missiles launched across the country, President Volodomyr Zelensky said. This is among the largest attacks Russia has mounted since the start of its full-scale invasion in 2022. In the capital, a search and rescue operation began early Thursday to look for people under the rubble of a nine-storey high-rise apartment block, which had been hit overnight. Police said two men, aged 21 and 30, and a woman, who has not yet been identified, were found dead in the rubble of the building's destroyed entrance. The fourth victim was a man who died in hospital, the city's police added. He had been at a petrol station which came under attack. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klychko, who visited the damaged building, said 18 apartments had been destroyed. He also said the attack had disrupted the city's water supply. More than 1,500 rescuers and police officers are working in the aftermath of Russia's overnight attacks, almost 600 of them in Kyiv, Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said. Dozens of people have been recovered from the damaged building and more than 10 people are thought to be missing, he said in a statement, with canine units involved in the search. Teams say they have moved more than 20 cubic metres of debris and evacuated five damaged vehicles. The strikes also damaged other residential buildings, a school, a veterinary clinic and other infrastructure in Kyiv, according to Zelensky. The large-scale attack saw Russian drones fly across much of Ukraine, with the regions of Kremenchuk, Bila Tserkva, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Odesa also coming under fire, Prime Minister Svyrydenko said. "Ukraine needs help in strengthening its air defense," she wrote on social media. "This is the only way to save our people and our cities." Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for the "barbaric attack", which he said showed Moscow was pursuing "aggression and terror" over peace. He noted the attack had taken place during a crucial summit between US President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping, and urged the two leaders to exert pressure on Russia. "I am certain that the leaders of the United States and China have enough leverage over Moscow to tell Putin to finally end the war," he said. The latest attacks came shortly after a three-day, US-brokered ceasefire expired late on Monday.

A Russian missile and drone attack damaged a residential building in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, causing part of it to collapse. Officials said people may have been trapped under the rubble, while Ukraine’s State Emergency Service later reported that rescuers had pulled 10 people from the debris.

Emergency crews in Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district finished search-and-rescue operations on the morning of Nov. 15 after a Russian strike hit a nine-story residential building, Kyiv’s State Emergency Service (SES) reported. Rescuers recovered the bodies of six people and said 37 others were injured. A total of 68 residents were pulled from the building, including five children. SES psychologists provided assistance to 252 people, according to the report.

Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of five people from the rubble of an apartment building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district that was destroyed by a Russian missile, but it is not yet clear whether the death toll of the strike has risen.