Kyiv, June 18: A combined Russian missile and drone attack in Kyiv overnight Tuesday killed at least 14 people and wounded 44 others, according to Ukrainian officials.Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people had been killed in the attack which hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Ukraine’s Emergency Service said 44 people were wounded.
The attack, the latest in a spate of mass drone and missile attacks on Kyiv, occurred as world leaders convened at the Group of Seven meeting in Canada, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to attend. The summit runs through Tuesday.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko told reporters at the scene that a US citizen was killed in the attack after suffering wounds from shrapnel. Explosions could be heard for hours throughout the night on Tuesday.
Thirty apartments were destroyed in a single residential block, Klymenko said.
People were wounded in the city’s Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts. Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said fires broke out in two other Kyiv districts as a result of falling debris from drones shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.
Canada, which assumed the presidency of the G7 this year, invited Zelenskyy to the summit, where he is expected to hold one-on-one meetings with world leaders.
Zelenskyy was set to meet with US President Donald Trump in Canada on Tuesday, though the White House announced that Trump would be returning unexpectedly to Washington on Monday night instead of Tuesday night because of tensions in the Mideast.
Russia has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks. Moscow escalated attacks after Ukraine’s Security Service agency staged an audacious operation targeting war planes in air bases deep inside Russian territory.
Little progress has emerged from direct peace talks held in Istanbul, with the exception of prisoner exchanges, expected to conclude next week, said Zelenskyy.