Ukraine government building damaged in Kyiv in the largest Russian
attack since the war began
[September 08, 2025]
By SAMYA KULLAB
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia hit Ukraine's capital with drone and
missiles Sunday in the largest aerial attack since the war began,
killing four people across the country and damaging a key government
building.
Russia attacked with 810 drones and decoys, Ukraine's air force said,
adding it shot down 747 drones and four missiles.
Associated Press reporters saw a plume of smoke rising from the roof of
Kyiv’s government headquarters. It was not immediately clear if the
smoke was the result of a direct hit or debris, which would mark an
escalation in Russia’s air campaign, which has so far spared government
buildings in the city center.
The building is the home of Ukraine’s Cabinet and its ministers. Police
blocked access to the building as fire trucks and ambulances arrived.
Yuriy Ihnat, an air force spokesperson, confirmed to The Associated
Press that Sunday’s attack was the largest Russian drone strike since
the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia also
launched 13 missiles. Hits from nine missiles and 54 drones were
recorded at 33 locations across Ukraine.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that four people were
killed and 44 wounded. He said he spoke on the phone with French
President Emmanuel Macron about the attack.
“Together with France, we are preparing new measures to strengthen our
defense,” Zelenskyy said.
Marcon earlier on Sunday accused Russia of “striking indiscriminately”
and said Moscow “is locking itself ever deeper into the logic of war and
terror.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also condemned the attack. “These
cowardly strikes show that Putin believes he can act with impunity. He
is not serious about peace. Now, more than ever, we must stand firm in
our support for Ukraine and its sovereignty,” Starmer said in a
statement.
Multiple locations hit in Kyiv
In the Ukrainian capital, the attack killed two people and wounded 20
others, according to city officials.
Those killed were a mother and her 3-month-old child, whose bodies were
dug out of the rubble, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city
administration. At least 10 locations in Kyiv were damaged, he added.
Direct drone hits struck a nine-story residential building in Kyiv’s
Sviatoshynskyi district and a four-story residential building in
Darnytskyi district.
“I just have no more words left to express what I feel towards Russia,”
said Olha, a 77-year-old Kyiv resident whose apartment was damaged. She
didn’t give her last name. “Although I’m an ethnic Russian myself, from
outside Moscow. And I’ve never thought my people would be capable of
this.”
Zelenskyy called for sanctions on Russia and for strengthening Ukraine’s
air defenses.
“Such killings now, when real diplomacy could have started long ago, are
a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war,” he said. “The world
can force the Kremlin criminals to stop killing; only political will is
needed.”
Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko posted a video of herself
inside the damaged government building, where she said a fire covering
800 square meters (8,600 square feet) was put out.
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Smoke rises from the Cabinet of Ministers building after a Russian
strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy
Maloletka)
“For the first time since the start of full-scale invasion, Russians
struck our government headquarters in the center of Kyiv," she said.
"It looks like Russia is not seeking peace and is not ready for
negotiations. We call our partners to help close our sky. Let’s
strengthen sanctions against Russia. Let’s create the security
guarantees system that will help stop the enemy,” she said.
Russia insists it targeted military infrastructure
The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that it used
“high-precision weapons” and drones to strike drone assembly and
storage sites, military air bases in central, southern and eastern
Ukraine, an industrial facility and a logistics facility on the
outskirts of Kyiv.
The ministry said that “all designated objects were hit" and claimed
that "no strikes were carried out on other objects within the
borders of Kyiv,” in what could be a reference to the damaged
government building.
Sunday's attack is the second mass Russian drone and missile attack
to target Kyiv in the span of two weeks, as hopes for peace talks
wane.
It comes after European leaders pressed Russian leader Vladimir
Putin to work to end the war after 26 of Ukraine's allies pledged to
deploy troops as a “reassurance force” for the war-torn country once
the fighting ends.
Zelenskyy has said he is ready to meet Putin to negotiate a peace
agreement, and has urged U.S. President Donald Trump to put
punishing sanctions on Russia to push it to end the war.
Moscow has repeatedly objected to any Western troop deployments to
Ukraine and pushed back against a Putin-Zelenskyy summit, saying
lower-level talks must take place first.
Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery in Russia
Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted a total
of 100 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, the annexed Crimean
peninsula and the Azov Sea between 8 p.m. Saturday and 6:30 a.m.
Sunday.
Most were downed over the Belgorod, Voronezh and Krasnodar regions
near the border with Ukraine, according to the statement.
In the Krasnodar region, falling drone debris sparked a brief fire
at an oil refinery, local authorities said. In the Belgorod and the
Voronezh regions, two people were injured, officials said.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said Sunday that its troops seized
the village of Khoroshe in the Dnipropetrovsk region. There was no
immediate confirmation from Ukraine.
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