A United States citizen and 14 others have been reported killed as Russia launched one of its most devastating attacks on Ukraine in recent months, firing over 440 drones and 32 missiles across the country, a Ukrainian official said on Tuesday June 17.
The strikes killed also injured so many more, with the capital Kyiv suffering some of the heaviest destruction since the start of the war.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, dozens of civilian locations were targeted in the early morning barrage, including residential buildings, educational institutions, and vital infrastructure. The onslaught caused widespread damage, particularly in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district, where a ballistic missile flattened an entire section of a nine-storey apartment building.
“This is pure terrorism,” Zelenskiy said. “The whole world — the United States and Europe — must finally respond as a civilized society would respond to terrorists. Putin continues this war simply because he believes he can.”
Emergency services worked through the rubble, using hoses to douse fires and cranes to rescue residents from damaged buildings. One elderly woman was lowered in a stretcher from a broken window, as residents looked on in horror.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s horrific,” said Viktoriia Vovchenko, 57, a resident of the area. “They were pulling out people, cut up, injured… elderly people, children. I don’t know how much more of this we can take.”
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed 14 deaths in Kyiv and one in Odesa. Nearly 100 people were injured across Kyiv, Odesa, and Chernihiv. Among the dead in the capital was a 62-year-old American citizen, who succumbed to shrapnel wounds, said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
While Ukraine has carried out drone strikes into Russian territory in response, none have inflicted the same level of civilian casualties. Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed it intercepted 147 Ukrainian drones overnight, including in the Moscow region.
Now in its fourth year, Russia’s full-scale invasion has intensified in recent weeks. Peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow held in Istanbul yielded no agreement, while Russian forces have stepped up their assault in eastern Ukraine and opened a new front in the northeastern Sumy region.
Calls for a ceasefire from U.S. President Donald Trump have so far gone unheeded. Trump, who left the G7 summit in Canada a day early due to escalating tensions in the Middle East, has shifted U.S. foreign policy away from strong support for Kyiv. His administration has resisted European pressure to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow, and Trump has suggested re-admitting Russia into the G7 — a group it was expelled from in 2014 after its annexation of Crimea.
Zelenskiy, attending the G7 summit in Canada, had hoped to secure increased military aid and tighter sanctions against Russia. He also sought a meeting with President Trump to discuss arms deals, but that encounter did not take place due to Trump’s early departure.
The latest escalation underscores the failure of diplomatic efforts and the growing toll of the war on civilians, as Russia continues to pursue its objectives despite international condemnation.
