Vladimir Putin’s forces attacked Kyiv with drones and missiles overnight, killing nine people and injuring another 63, the Ukrainian authorities say. Follow the latest on the war here – and listen to the Daily podcast as you scroll.
Thursday 24 April 2025 07:44, UK
A “major rescue operation” is underway in Kyiv following Russia’s overnight drone and missile attack.
“Mobile phones can be heard ringing under the ruins,” Ukraine’s interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram. “The search will continue until everybody is got out.”
Klymenko said engineering forces, climbers and search dogs were all being used to help emergency services in the rescue operation.
More than 70 people suffered injuries from the attack, with nine people so far confirmed to have died.
As well as hitting Kyiv with overnight attacks, Russian missile and drone strikes were also reported in various other regions of Ukraine.
The country’s interior minister said Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia oblasts were all hit in the “massive combined strike,” but Kyiv was hit hardest.
The capital’s military chief, Tymur Tkachenko, described the attack as “Russian peace in all its glory.”
In response to the attack, Poland’s air force scrambled allied fighter jets to protect the country’s own airspace from missiles that may stray into Polish territory.
Before Russia launched its overnight attacks, Donald Trump had suggested a peace deal in Ukraine was “very close”.
JD Vance had earlier laid out the US vision for a deal, saying it would freeze the frontlines “close to where they are today”, adding that Ukraine and Russia would both have to “give up some of the territory they currently own”.
The deal is also slated to include US recognition of Russia’s control over Crimea, the Ukrainian region Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
That point appears to be a sticking point for Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly said that Ukraine would not accept giving up Crimea as part of peace negotiations.
That’s irked Trump, who suggested in the Oval Office last night he found it easier to deal with Russia than he did Zelebskyy.
“I think Russia is ready and a lot of people said Russia wanted to go for the whole thing. And I think we have a deal with Russia. We have to get a deal with Zelenskyy,” Trump told reporters.
“I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelenskyy. So far, it’s been harder. But, I think we have a deal with both.”
In an earlier post on Truth Social yesterday, Trump said Zelenskyy’s stance over Crimea will “do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field’, and nobody wants that”.
Watch: Is Trump really ‘close’ to securing a deal for Ukraine?
We’re starting to get some political reaction to Russia’s overnight missile and drone attacks on Kyiv.
Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, says the attacks prove that Vladimir Putin is not interested in peace.
“Russia is attacking Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities with missiles and drones right now,” Yermak said on X.
“Putin only demonstrates a desire to kill. The fire must cease. The attacks on civilians must stop.”
We can now bring you a series of images showing how Russia’s overnight missile and drone attack on Kyiv unfolded.
Explosions were initially heard in the capital at around 1am local time (10pm UK time), with further explosions coming around three hours later.
Authorities said nine people were killed, while Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko added that six children, as well as a pregnant woman, were among the injured.
A large-scale Russian missile and drone attack hit Kyiv overnight, killing nine people and injuring another 63, Ukrainian authorities said.
Kyiv’s military administration said on its Telegram channel this morning that Russia struck the capital with drones and ballistic missiles.
Fires were reported in several residential buildings, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the administration.
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
The authorities in Kyiv have reported a large-scale Russian attack on the capital overnight that killed nine people – we’ll bring you more on that in a moment.
The deadly attack comes as diplomatic efforts to end the war ramped up yesterday as a US-backed, seven-point peace plan emerged while Western officials met for talks in London.
Donald Trump said those talks “went well” and that he “thinks we have a deal” with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin – but he also hit out at the Ukrainian president and accused him of preventing peace.
Before we resume our updates, here’s a look at how the last 24 hours unfolded:
Thanks for following our coverage throughout the day.
We’re pausing our live updates for now, but we’ll be back with more tomorrow. Before we go, here’s a summary of the day’s key developments:
Downgraded talks in London
Foreign ministers from the UK, US, France, Germany and Ukraine scrapped plans to meet in London for high-level talks on ending the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s delegation consisting of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak, defence minister Rustem Umerov and foreign minister Andrii Sybiha held talks with the UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey.
That’s something that was hailed as “significant progress” by the British Foreign Office.
But the US delegation was almost completely changed after Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio – Donald Trump’s top negotiators – pulled out, while the somewhat sidelined Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg took over as leader of the delegation.
French and German foreign ministers also pulled out, and were instead represented by advisers.
Trump’s seven-point peace plan
The London meeting was held on the backdrop of Trump’s reported seven-point peace plan.
Most notably, the plan mentions that the US would formally recognise Russian sovereignty over annexed Crimea.
Russia took over Crimea in 2014 but Ukraine has always maintained it is part of its territory, with most of the international community refusing to recognise Russia’s illegal seizure of the area.
But Trump once again ramped the pressure up on Zelenskyy to agree to a peace deal, saying his stance on Crimea “will do nothing but prolong the killing field”.
It came after US vice president JD Vance said an “explicit” proposal had been given to Russia and Ukraine, reiterating “it’s time for them to either say yes or for the US to walk away from this process”.
Watch: Our security and defence analyst Michael Clarke takes a closer look at Trump’s reported peace plan
Michael Clarke answers your questions
Michael Clarke has been back answering your questions on the war in Ukraine this afternoon.
Among the questions, he was asked:
Watch this week’s full Q&A in the video below.
We’re just hearing from Donald Trump, who has been signing executive orders in the Oval Office.
The US president says he believes “Russia is ready” to end the war, adding that “we have to get a deal with Zelenskyy”.
Moments later though, he expresses a more optimistic tone and says “I think we have a deal with both” and added “I hope they do it”.
Trump was also repeatedly asked questions about whether he could meet Zelenskyy for the first time since that explosive White House showdown when the pair attend Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, although he said he didn’t know.
While UK and Ukrainian officials were holding talks in London this afternoon, Russia banned a list of UK MPs and peers from entering the country.
Some 21 have been barred in total, including six members of the House of Lords, as well as 15 MPs.
Russia’s foreign ministry accused them of having made “hostile statements and unfounded accusations” against Moscow.
It’s the latest move reflecting the dire state of relations between the two countries, with the UK being one of Kyiv’s strongest allies throughout the war.
Three years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion, the UK announced its largest sanctions package against Russia since 2022, while both sides have expelled diplomats.
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Ukraine war latest: Nine killed in Russian attack on Kyiv – after Trump accuses Zelenskyy of prolonging war – Sky News
