Deadly Russian strikes hammer Kyiv on eve of Trump trip to critical NATO summit

(CNN) — Ukraine’s capital Kyiv came under a deadly Russian attack early Monday morning, on the eve of a critical NATO summit in Turkey that US President Donald Trump plans to attend.

Massive fiery explosions lit up the night sky as ballistic missiles and drones hammered parts of the city, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens more, city officials said.

Residential buildings were badly damaged in the assault, leaving people trapped in multi-story apartment blocks, while cars were seen burning on city streets.

There was “destruction and damage” in four districts of the city, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, adding that the Podilsky district was hit the hardest.

Rescuers evacuated residents, including children, from the upper floors of a damaged building in the district early Monday, while many residents of the capital spend hours in air raid shelters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned just hours earlier that Moscow was “preparing a new massive strike,” and the fresh assault comes just days after a ferocious Russian attack on Kyiv killed 30 people last Thursday –– the third deadliest attack on the capital since the war began.

“This is typical of Putin: right after America’s Independence Day and before the NATO Summit in Ankara,” Zelensky said Sunday in a post on X ahead of the attack.

Residential buildings in Kyiv’s southeastern Darnytskyi district, an area of the city that suffered significant damage on Thursday, were badly damaged in the Monday strikes and were being evacuated, the mayor said. Video geolocated by CNN showed a large explosion and several high rise apartment buildings on fire after being hit.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had used “high-precision, long-range weapons” to target military-industrial facilities and fuel and energy sites in Kyiv on Monday. It said the attacks were in response to Ukrainian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Russian territory.

Russia’s war in Ukraine will form the backdrop to the Turkey summit, which starts on Tuesday.

Trump, who will be in Ankara, offered again to help end the war on Sunday, during a nearly 90 minute call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Russia’s foreign ministry. The US president also spoke to Zelensky on Saturday.

He had vowed to solve the war within 24 hours of taking office again, but more than 500 days into his second term, the administration has yet to find a path to peace between the neighbors, despite multiple attempts.

Russian forces have stepped up efforts to take more of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region – a key objective for the Kremlin, and Ukraine’s cities face near-nightly attacks from Moscow’s drones and missiles.

Ukraine has also recently ramped up missile and drone attacks against key infrastructure deep inside Russian territory, including oil refineries, ports and military factories. Russia shot down 519 Ukrainian drones launched toward it overnight into Monday, the state news agency TASS reported.

The lethality of last Thursday attack on Kyiv displayed the challenge Ukrainian officials face in protecting its capital as Russia innovates and increasingly deploys jet-powered drones, like the Geran-4 UAV, which fly too fast for Kyiv’s mobile fire groups and can only be shot down with ground-to-air missiles or fighter jets.

The Ukrainian president repeated his plea to US and European allies for missiles for Patriot systems on Sunday, saying “any delay with missiles for our air defense – missiles for Patriots – means the loss of lives, and it encourages Russia to continue the war.”

“Missiles for Patriots are needed not in warehouses right now, but in Patriot units in Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky sees Patriots as key for shooting down Russia’s arsenal, which has included ballistic missiles, loitering munitions and the jet-powered drones. The latest versions of Patriot interceptors are capable of engaging incoming short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at altitudes up to 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) and distances of up to 35 kilometers.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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