Kyiv mourns after deadliest attack in a year kills 31 people in Ukraine,
including 5 children
[August 02, 2025]
By ILLIA NOVIKOV
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian capital Kyiv observed an official day
of mourning Friday, a day after a Russian drone and missile attack on
the city killed 31 people, including five children, and injured more
than 150, officials said.
The youngest victim in Thursday’s strikes was 2 years old, and 16 of the
injured were children, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
It was the highest number of children killed and injured in a single
attack on Kyiv since aerial attacks on the city began in October 2022,
according to official casualty figures reported by The Associated Press.
It was also the deadliest attack on the city since July last year, when
33 were killed.
The death toll rose overnight as emergency crews continued to dig
through rubble. The Russian barrage demolished a large part of a
nine-story residential building in the city, while more than 100 other
buildings were damaged, including homes, schools, kindergartens, medical
facilities and universities, officials said.
Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months,
ignoring calls from Western leaders including U.S. President Donald
Trump to stop striking civilian areas after more than three years of
war. The Russian tactic aims to spread terror and wear down public
appetite for the war.
Russian forces are also pressing on with their grinding war of attrition
along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where incremental gains
over the past year have come at the cost of thousands of soldiers on
both sides.
Ukraine wants more sanctions on Russia
Zelenskyy said that in July, Russia launched over 5,100 glide bombs,
more than 3,800 Shahed drones, and nearly 260 missiles of various types,
128 of them ballistic, against Ukraine.
He repeated his appeal for countries to impose heavier economic
sanctions on Russia to deter the Kremlin, as U.S.-led peace efforts have
failed to gain traction.
“No matter how much the Kremlin denies (sanctions’) effectiveness, they
are working and must be stronger,” Zelenskyy said.
His comments Friday appeared to be a response to Trump’s remarks the
previous day, when the Republican president said the U.S. plans to
impose sanctions on Russia but added, “I don’t know that sanctions
bother him,” in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In April, Trump urged the Russian leader to “STOP!” after an aerial
attack on Kyiv killed 12 in what was the deadliest assault on the city
since July 2024. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!” Trump said in a post on
his Truth Social platform at the time, but Russia hasn't eased up on its
barrages. Earlier this week, Trump gave Putin until Aug. 8 to stop the
fighting.
Those demands haven't persuaded the Kremlin to change strategy. Putin
said Friday the conditions that Moscow set out last year for a long-term
ceasefire agreement still stand. Putin has previously made it clear that
he will only accept a settlement on his terms and will keep fighting
until they’re met.
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A view on the multistory residential house that was hit by the
Russian missile Thursday night, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Aug. 1,
2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
“Any disappointments arise from excessive expectations,” Putin said
of negotiations. He did not mention Trump by name.
Putin said that he regards recent direct talks in Istanbul between
delegations from Russia and Ukraine as valuable, even though they
made no progress beyond exchanges of prisoners of war, and made no
reference to next week's deadline imposed by Trump.
In what Ukrainians may see as an ominous note, Putin said that
Russia has started production of its newest hypersonic missiles. The
Oreshnik’s multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to
Mach 10 and cannot be stopped by air defenses, he said.
Ukraine called for an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting to be
convened Friday, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, in an effort
to push Putin into accepting “a full, immediate and unconditional
ceasefire.”
Russian forces bear down on a key eastern Ukrainian city
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are under heavy pressure in the
strategic hilltop city of Chasiv Yar, in the eastern Donetsk region
where Russia is making a concerted push to break through defenses
after some 18 months of fighting.
Zelenskyy said that Russian claims of capturing Chasiv Yar on
Thursday were “disinformation.”
“Ukrainian units are holding our positions,” Zelenskyy said in his
daily video address on Thursday evening. “It is not easy, but it is
the defense of Ukrainians’ very right to life.”
Even so, the Institute for the Study of War said that Ukraine’s hold
on the key city is weakening.
“Russian forces will likely complete the seizure of Chasiv Yar in
the coming days, which will open several possible avenues for
Russian forces to attack Ukraine’s fortress belt — a series of
fortified cities that form the backbone of Ukraine’s defensive
positions” in the Donetsk region, the Washington-based think tank
said.
Ukraine has tried to pressure the Russian army by striking rear
areas with long-range drones that target rail networks, oil depots
and arsenals.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that air defenses shot down 60
Ukrainian drones overnight. More than half were destroyed over
Russia’s Belgorod region on the country’s border with Ukraine, it
said. Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said that one person was
injured.
The Ukrainian air force, meanwhile, said Friday it downed 44 out of
72 Russian drones fired overnight. There were no immediate reports
of casualties or damage.
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Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed.
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