A massive overnight Russian missile and drone assault on Ukraine killed at least 15 people, including a U.S. citizen, and injured over 150 others, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday, marking one of the deadliest attacks on Kyiv since the war began. The barrage coincided with President Donald Trump's comments at the G7 summit in Canada advocating for Russia's return to the group and praising his personal ties with President Vladimir Putin.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital for nearly nine hours. "We have 27 locations that were attacked by the enemy," Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko told reporters, adding that 30 apartments in a single block were destroyed by a ballistic missile. "We currently have over 2,000 people working there, rescuers, police, municipal services and doctors."
Among the dead was a 62-year-old American who lived in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district, Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced. "The U.S. citizen was pronounced dead at the scene," Klitschko posted on Telegram.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired more than 440 drones and 32 missiles during the strike. "Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on," Zelensky said on X. "It is wrong when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it."
The attack followed comments by Trump earlier Monday suggesting Russia's expulsion from the G8 was a "big mistake." "You spend so much time talking about Russia, and [Putin's] no longer at the table... you wouldn't have had the war," Trump said during a press appearance alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
"He doesn't speak to anybody else," Trump added. "He doesn't want to talk because he was very insulted when he got thrown out of the G8, as I would be." The U.S. president further indicated reluctance toward escalating sanctions, stating: "Sanctions cost the U.S. a lot of money-you're talking about billions and billions of dollars."
Trump's remarks drew criticism from Kyiv officials. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia's deadly barrage during the G7 meetings was evidence of Putin's "total disrespect" for diplomatic efforts. "Russia not only rejects a ceasefire or a leaders' meeting to find solutions and end the war," Sybiha said on social media. "It cynically strikes Ukraine's capital while pretending to seek diplomatic solutions."
The attack destroyed dozens of civilian structures. Olena Lapyshniak, 49, who survived the strike on her apartment building, recalled the moment of impact. "It's horrible, it's scary, in one moment there is no life," she said. "There's no military infrastructure here, nothing here, nothing."
Fires broke out across several districts as debris from downed drones fell across Kyiv, authorities said. In the Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, multiple residents were injured as windows shattered and buildings were damaged.
Elsewhere, drone strikes in the southern port city of Odesa killed one person and injured 17, according to regional head Oleh Kiper. The onslaught also targeted Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, and Mykolaiv, Zelensky said.
Tuesday's attack came as Ukraine struggles to keep international attention focused on the war, now in its fourth year. A planned meeting between Zelensky and Trump at the G7 summit was scrapped after the U.S. president left early to return to Washington amid rising tensions in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Russia claimed to have downed 203 Ukrainian drones over 10 regions in response to what it described as Ukrainian assaults on airfields inside its territory. The Russian civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia temporarily halted flights at airports in Moscow, Kaluga, Tambov, and Nizhny Novgorod as a precaution.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday there were no immediate plans for resuming peace talks. "It is unclear when another round of talks might take place," he told reporters in Moscow.
