Death toll from major Russian strike on Kyiv rises to 21, more than 130 injured

Rescuers work at the site where a Russian ballistic missile struck a residential apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine, yesterday. Photo / Maxym Marusenko, NurPhoto via Getty Images

Rescuers in Kyiv today said the death toll from a major Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital the previous day had risen to 21, with more than 130 people wounded.

Russia launched dozens of drones and missiles at Kyiv early on Tuesday in what Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “one of the most horrific attacks” on the capital of the three-year war.

“In total, 21 people died in the capital and 134 people were injured,” Ukraine’s state emergency service wrote on Telegram.

It added that 16 bodies had been recovered from the rubble of a nine-storey apartment building in the Solomyansky district.

Russia's attack on Kyiv killed 21 people and left more than 130 injured. Photo / Andrew Kravchenko, Bloomberg via Getty Images

The previous death toll given by Kyiv’s mayor was 14. Zelenskyy said 440 drones and 32 missiles were launched in the strikes nationwide and urged the international community not to “turn a blind eye”.

The Russian defence ministry said it had conducted precision strikes on “military-industrial facilities in the Kyiv region”, in a statement similar to those released after other major attacks.

More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has stepped up attacks despite efforts by the United States to broker a ceasefire.

Talks have stalled. Moscow has rejected the “unconditional” truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies, while Ukraine has dismissed Russia’s demands as “ultimatums”.

– Agence France-Presse