KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian rescuers recovered more than a dozen more bodies from the rubble of a collapsed apartment block in Kyiv overnight, bringing the death toll from Russia’s worst air strike of the year on Ukraine’s capital to 31.
A two-year-old was among the five children found dead after Thursday’s sweeping Russian drone and missile attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday, announcing the end of a more than 24-hour-long rescue operation.
A total of 159 people were wounded in the multi-wave strike, in which Russia launched more than 300 drones and eight missiles early on Thursday, the latest in a campaign of fierce strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities.
Video on the presidential website showed Zelenskiy chatting with residents of areas where high-rise apartment buildings suffered heavy damage.
“The state will definitely provide help and support to everyone affected,” Zelenskiy wrote on the website.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the northeast of the country, a drone attack on Friday injured 10 people, including three children, one of them a five-month-old infant. Five people remained in hospital.
The worst damage in Kyiv was to an apartment building that partially collapsed in the Sviatoshyn district in western Kyiv. Damage was also reported in at least three other districts of the capital.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday sharply criticised Russia’s “disgusting” behaviour against Ukraine, while saying he was not sure whether sanctions would deter Russia. He has given President Vladimir Putin until August 8 to make a deal or else he will respond with economic pressure.
Natalia Matviyenko, 65, sitting near the damaged apartment building, said she did not place much faith in Trump’s tough rhetoric.
“Trump just says, ‘I’m upset with President Putin’s behaviour.’ And what? No results,” she said.
Trump on Friday said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be moved to the “appropriate regions” in response to threats from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The U.S. leader, who returned to power on a pledge to swiftly end the war, has in recent weeks rolled back his earlier conciliatory approach toward Moscow and signalled openness to arming Ukraine.
But a diplomatic effort to end the war has stalled, with Moscow not backing down from what Kyiv and its allies describe as maximalist demands.
‘WILL PUTIN LISTEN?’
On Friday, mourners laid flowers and lit candles at the wrecked apartment block, where rumbling excavators hoisted heavy pieces of rubble. The makeshift shrine included brightly coloured stuffed animals.
Oksana Kinal, 43, who was placing flowers to honour a co-worker who had been killed alongside a son, said she hoped Trump would follow up on his threat but also expressed doubt.
“I think America has a lot of points of leverage that can be used against Russia,” she said. “But will Putin listen to this? I don’t know.”
Kyiv’s air force said on Friday that Ukrainian air defences had destroyed more than 6,000 drones and missiles across the country in July alone.
“The world possesses every instrument required to ensure Russia is brought to justice,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on X on Friday. “What is lacking is not power — but will.”
(Additional reporting by Anastasiia MalenkoWriting by Dan PeleschukEditing by Philippa Fletcher, Peter Graff, Ron Popeski and Sandra Maler)
