Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv kills at least 13 people and
injures more than 130
[August 01, 2025]
By SAMYA KULLAB
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missile and drone attacks overnight on
Ukraine's capital city killed at least 13 people, including a 6-year-old
boy, and wounded 132 others, authorities said Thursday.
A 5-month-old girl was among 14 children wounded, Ukraine’s Emergency
Service said. It was the highest number of children injured in a single
attack on Kyiv since the start of Russia’s invasion three years ago,
according to public records consulted by The Associated Press.
A large part of a nine-story residential building collapsed in the
attack, City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said. Rescue
teams searched for people trapped under the rubble.
Yana Zhabborova, 35, a resident of the damaged building, woke up to the
sound of thundering explosions, which blew off the doors and windows of
her home.
“It is just stress and shock that there is nothing left,” said
Zhabborova, a mother of a 5-month-old infant and a 5-year-old child.
Russia fired 309 Shahed and decoy drones, and eight Iskander-K cruise
missiles overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Ukrainian air defenses
intercepted and jammed 288 strike drones and three missiles. Five
missiles and 21 drones struck targets.
Russian troops also struck a residential 5-story building in the eastern
Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, according to the head of Donetsk regional
military administration Vadym Filashkin. He said one person was killed
and at least 11 more injured.
At least 27 locations across Kyiv were hit by the attack, Tkachenko
said, with the heaviest damage seen in the Solomianskyi and
Sviatoshynskyi districts. More than 100 buildings were damaged in Kyiv,
including homes, schools, kindergartens, medical facilities and
universities, he said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that it had shot down 32
Ukrainian drones overnight.
A drone attack had caused a fire at an industrial site in Russia’s Penza
region, local Gov. Oleg Melnichenko said. He didn't immediately give
further details other than to say that there were no casualties.
In the Volgograd region, some trains were also halted after drone
wreckage fell on local railway infrastructure, state rail operator
Russian Railways said.
Russia's Defense Ministry also said that its forces took full control of
the strategically important city of Chasiv Yar in Ukraine’s eastern
Donetsk region.
Russian and Ukrainian troops have battled for control of Chasiv Yar for
nearly 18 months. It includes a hilltop from which troops can attack
other key points in the region that form the backbone of Ukraine’s
eastern defenses.
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Local women stand in front of a residential building heavily damaged
by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Victor Trehubov, a Ukrainian military spokesperson, denied Russia’s
claim.
“Just a fabrication, there wasn’t even a change in the situation,"
he told The Associated Press.
A report on Thursday from Ukraine’s Army General Staff said there
were seven clashes in Chasiv Yar in the past 24 hours. An attached
map showed most of the town as being under Russian control.
DeepState, an open-source Ukrainian map widely used by the military
and analysts, showed early Thursday that neighborhoods to the south
and west of Chasiv Yar remained as so-called gray zones, or
uncontrolled by either side.
The attack targeted the Kyiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Sumy, Mykolaiv
regions, with Ukraine's capital being the primary target, President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
“Today, the world once again saw Russia’s answer to our desire for
peace with America and Europe,” Zelenskyy said. “New demonstrative
killings. That is why peace without strength is impossible.”
He called on Ukraine’s allies to follow through on defense
commitments and pressure Moscow toward real negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave Russian President
Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to
make progress, or Washington will impose punitive sanctions and
tariffs.
He said Thursday that his special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to
Russia after his current stop in Israel.
Trump has grown increasingly critical of Russia. “I think it’s
disgusting what they’re doing,” he said after the latest attacks. He
said the United States is ready to impose sanctions, but “I don't
know that sanctions bother him,” referring to Putin.
Western leaders have accused Putin of dragging his feet in U.S.-led
peace efforts in an attempt to capture more Ukrainian land.
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Associated Press writers Vasilisa Stepanenko and Illia Novikov in
Kyiv, Ukraine, and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this
report.
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