Flags across Kyiv were lowered to half-mast on Wednesday, as Ukrainians mourned more than two dozen people killed a day earlier in Russia’s deadliest strike on the capital this year.
Russia sent 440 drones and fired 32 missiles during the overnight attack, said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, partly flattening a residential building, in the latest blow to a war-weary population as diplomatic efforts to end the grinding conflict bear little fruit.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday the death toll had reached 28, but that a search operation was continuing. Two people were also killed in a separate strike on the southern port city of Odesa.
Residents visited the site of the partly destroyed apartment building, where rescue workers dug through chunks of debris amid the din of heavy machinery.
“That kind of nation has no right to exist and bring such suffering to people,” said Alla Martyniuk (46), referring to Russians.
Ukrainian officials said about 27 locations in Kyiv, including educational institutions and critical infrastructure, had been hit during the multi-wave attack. Scores more people were wounded.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had used air, land and sea-based missiles and drones to strike “objects of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine” in the Kyiv region and southern Zaporizhzhia province.
Moscow has stepped up drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in recent weeks as talks to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, have yielded few results.
Mr Zelenskiy left the Group of Seven summit in Canada on Tuesday saying diplomacy was in “crisis” after having missed the chance to press US president Donald Trump for more weapons.
Kyiv is eager for critical aid from Washington, which has been its biggest military backer during the war, but the Trump administration has not announced any new packages.
The G7 wealthy nations struggled to find unity over the conflict in Ukraine after Mr Trump expressed support for Russian president Vladimir Putin and left a day early to address the Israel-Iran conflict from Washington.
A Canadian official initially said Ottawa had dropped plans for the G7 to issue a strong statement on the war in Ukraine after resistance from the United States. Prime minister Mark Carney’s director of media relations later said no proposed statement on Ukraine had ever been planned.
Mr Carney had started the day by announcing Ottawa would provide C$2 billion (€1.28 billion) in new military assistance for Kyiv and would impose new financial sanctions.
In a post on Telegram, Mr Zelenskiy said he told the G7 leaders that “diplomacy is now in a state of crisis” and they need to continue calling on Mr Trump “to use his real influence” to force an end to the war.
Although Canada is one of Ukraine’s most vocal defenders, its ability to help it is far outweighed by the US, the largest arms supplier to Kyiv. Mr Zelenskiy had said he hoped to talk to Mr Trump about acquiring more weapons.
After the summit in the Rocky Mountain resort area of Kananaskis concluded, Mr Carney issued a chair statement summarising deliberations.
“G7 leaders expressed support for President Trump’s efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” it said.
“They recognized that Ukraine has committed to an unconditional ceasefire, and they agreed that Russia must do the same. G7 leaders are resolute in exploring all options to maximize pressure on Russia, including financial sanctions.”
Canada holds the rotating G7 presidency this year. Other leaders do not need to sign off on G7 chair statements.
A European official said leaders had stressed to Mr Trump their plans to be hard on Russia and the US president seemed impressed, though he does not like sanctions in principle.
Three European diplomats said they had heard signals from Mr Trump that he wanted to raise pressure on Putin and consider a US Senate bill drafted by senator Lindsey Graham, but that he had not committed to anything.
“I am returning to Germany with cautious optimism that decisions will also be made in America in the coming days to impose further sanctions against Russia,” German chancellor Friedrich Merz said.
Upon arriving at the summit, Mr Trump said that the then-Group of Eight had been wrong to expel Russia after Putin ordered the occupation of Crimea in 2014.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Mr Trump was right and said the G7 was no longer significant for Russia and looked “rather useless.” —Reuters
