Death toll in attack on Kyiv apartment building now stands at 24

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Friday that a Russian missile attack on a Kyiv apartment building the day before killed 24 people, including what local officials said were three teens.

Zelenskyy claimed on X that emergency crews spent “more than a day digging through the rubble of the building.

A cruise missile struck the corner block of nine stories in what Ukraine’s air force said was Russia’s greatest shelling of the country since it launched an all-out invasion.

Zelenskyy claimed the attack targeted the Ukrainian capital, injuring 48 people including two children.

Russia launched major aircraft attacks on Ukraine in the days after a May 9-11 truce that U.S. President Donald Trump said he had requested Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to respect. Fighting continued over those 72 hours although on a less reported scale.

The attacks this week came despite recent claims by Trump and Putin that the war, now in its fifth year, is winding down.

Speaking Thursday, Zelenskyy said Moscow has fired more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centres since Wednesday. Some 180 locations across the country were destroyed, including more than 50 residential properties, he said.

Earlier, the largest Russian drone attack was from the evening of March 23 to the evening of March 24 when Moscow’s military fired about 1,000 drones and missiles at Ukraine.

Ukraine also has developed significant long-range capabilities, and Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that air defenses shot down 355 drones overnight in one of the greatest Ukrainian drone attacks of the war.

The attacks caused a suspension of flights overnight at several airports.

Also, a Ukrainian drone strike in Ryazan, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Moscow, killed four people, including a toddler, said Ryazan Gov. Pavel Malkov.

Huge plumes of black smoke poured from a fire at a local oil refinery after the attack. Ukraine has struck Russian oil installations to cut off key export revenues for Moscow and shake the Kremlin.

Ukrainian government had no quick response on the Ryazan strike.

The Ukrainian capital commemorated an official day of grief Friday for those slain Thursday, and Zelenskyy visited the scene.

Zelenskyy said the cruise missile that struck the apartment complex was developed in the second quarter of this year, probably after Ukrainian scientists examined the wreckage.

“This means Russia continues to import the components, resources and equipment needed for missile production, circumventing global sanctions,” Zelenskyy added in another post on X late Thursday.

He said: “All our partners need to make a real priority of cracking down on Russia’s sanctions evasion schemes.”

Russia and Ukraine have continued to swap prisoners of war from time to time, and on Friday 205 from each country have come home.

Zelenskyy claimed it was the first stage of a planned 1,000-for-1,000 exchange of prisoners He said some of the liberated Ukrainians had been kept by the Russians since 2022 and had engaged in some of the war’s bloodiest battles.

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the swap and praised the United Arab Emirates for facilitating it.

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.