At least 14, including US citizen, dead as Russia launches massive wave of drone and missile strikes at Kyiv
17 June 2025, 08:02
At least 14 people have been killed by Russian strikes on Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday morning, including an American citizen.
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44 people were injured in the strikes that saw an apartment building in the Ukrainian capital city destroyed.
Pictures showed emergency workers desperately searching for people under the rubble.
The US citizen killed in the attack was a 62-year-old man hit by shrapnel, officials said.
Taking to X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said: "Russia's campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
"The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure - through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia's ability to keep sowing war."
In all, 27 locations across the city were hit as Russia launched a fresh wave of strikes on Ukraine, the country’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said.
He said the attack was the largest on the city since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion in February 2022.
It comes as Donald Trump said throwing Russia out of the G8 "was a big mistake" that helped pave the way for war in Ukraine.
Russia was a member of the Group of Eight (G8) until 2014 when the country was expelled over the Russian annexation of Crimea.
Speaking to reporters alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at this year's G7 summit, Mr Trump claimed Russia wasn't an enemy at that time, but was expelled because Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau wanted Russia out.
The US president also reiterated his claim that the war in Ukraine would never have started had he been president instead of Joe Biden.
He said: "I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in. And you wouldn't have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago."
"They threw Russia out, which I claimed was a very big mistake. Even though I wasn't in politics then, I was very loud about it," Trump said.
"It was a mistake in that you spend so much time talking about Russia, and he's no longer at the table, so it makes life more complicated."
Mr Trump added that President Putin was "very insulted" when he was expelled, and "not a happy person about it".
![Sir Keir Starmer has called on Vladimir Putin to "stop dragging his heels and get to the [negotiating] table", as Trump calls the Russian president "misguided."](https://images.lbc.co.uk/images/734580?width=320&crop=16_9&format=webp&signature=hCtUT-QBb1QuxMxVTF6Ch2nl6Ow=)
