Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Avenue in London, Monday, June 23, 2025.
Frank Augstein/AP
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Frank Augstein/AP
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian drones and missiles killed at the very least 14 civilians and injured a number of dozen others in Ukraine in in a single day assaults, native officers stated Monday, with 9 deaths reported within the capital, Kyiv, the place an residence constructing partially collapsed.
The assaults got here as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy started a go to to the UK, the place he met privately with King Charles III.
Russia fired 352 drones and decoys in a single day, in addition to 11 ballistic missiles and 5 cruise missiles, Ukraine’s air power stated. Air defenses intercepted or jammed 339 drones and 15 missiles earlier than they may attain their targets, an announcement stated.
A Russian ballistic missile strike destroyed a highschool later within the day in Ukraine’s southern Odesa area, killing two workers, authorities stated. No kids had been on the premises because of the summer season trip, stated Zelenskyy, who described the strike as “completely insane.”
The strikes got here practically per week after a Russian assault killed 28 individuals in Kyiv, 23 of them in a residential constructing that collapsed after a direct missile hit. Russia has additionally hit civilian areas with long-range strikes in an obvious try and weaken Ukrainian morale.
‘Coalition of murderers’
Russian forces have been making an attempt to drive deeper into Ukraine as a part of a summer season push alongside the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) entrance line, although the Institute for the Research of Warfare stated progress has did not make vital positive aspects.
“Russian forces are largely counting on poorly educated infantry to make positive aspects within the face of Ukraine’s drone-based protection,” the Washington-based suppose tank stated late Sunday.
Zelenskyy stated preliminary information indicated that Russian forces used North Korean missiles within the Kyiv strike. He described Russia, North Korea and Iran, which has offered drones to Russia, as a “coalition of murderers.”
Zelenskyy stated Ukraine’s protection and new methods to stress Russia can be the principle matters in his go to to the UK. Zelenskyy met privately with King Charles III and stayed for lunch, Buckingham Palace stated. He later met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer forward of this week’s NATO summit in The Hague.
Drones hit hospitals and residential areas
Drones and missiles hit residential areas, hospitals and sports activities infrastructure in quite a few districts throughout Kyiv, emergency companies stated.
Probably the most extreme harm was in Shevchenkivskyi district, the place a piece of a five-story residence constructing collapsed.
9 individuals had been killed within the district, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated. Ten others, together with a pregnant girl, had been rescued from a close-by high-rise that additionally sustained heavy harm. Dozens of automobiles had been burned or mangled by flying particles.
Oleksii Pozychaniuk, 29, who lives within the constructing subsequent to the one struck, stated he heard the whistle of the rocket approaching and “froze in terror” earlier than feeling the impression.
“Home windows burst out, glass was flying in every single place,” he stated. “We barely made it downstairs with my youngster. Every part right here was on hearth.”
Klitschko stated rescue staff had been trying to find survivors.
The Russian assault additionally broken the doorway to the Sviatoshyn subway station in Kyiv, barely injuring two individuals, stated Timur Tkachenko, the top of Kyiv’s army administration. He stated greater than 30 individuals had been injured throughout the town.
Underground subway stations have served as shelters for these in search of safety from aerial assaults. Throughout nearly nightly strikes, stations throughout Kyiv are sometimes stuffed with individuals ready out the hazard.
French Overseas Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stated the newest strikes demonstrated Russia’s “limitless cruelty” by intentionally aiming at civilian targets, and promised extra European sanctions on Moscow.
Rescue staff clear the rubble of a residential home destroyed by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, June 23, 2025.
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
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Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Lengthy course of to establish returned stays
Elsewhere in Ukraine, a drone assault killed two individuals and wounded 10 extra within the Chernihiv area late Sunday, authorities stated. Three kids had been among the many wounded, in accordance with the regional administration head, Viacheslav Chaus.
One other individual was killed and eight wounded in a single day within the metropolis of Bila Tserkva, round 85 kilometers (53 miles) southwest of the capital.
In the meantime, Russia’s Protection Ministry stated its air defenses shot down 23 Ukrainian drones in a single day into Monday.
Ukraine will take at the very least a yr to establish the 1000’s of troopers’ our bodies repatriated by Russia and set up whether or not Moscow has mistakenly included extra of its servicemen, Ukrainian Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko stated.
Zelenskyy stated Friday that Russia had included at the very least 20 of its personal lifeless troopers in latest exchanges with Ukraine, describing it because of Moscow’s disorganization in finishing up massive swaps of wounded POWs and stays.
A minimum of 5 of the our bodies could be confirmed to be Russian, Klymenko informed a press convention, with checks being performed on others. Journalists had been proven uniforms and objects together with cigarettes belonging to what Ukraine stated had been the 5 Russians.
