Russia launched one of its most devastating attacks on Ukraine overnight on June 17, using more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported.
“This was one of the worst attacks on Kyiv,” Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to Telegram. “Odessa, Zaporizhzhya, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv regions were also hit during the night.”
In Kyiv, rescue teams were working to pull people from the rubble of a destroyed residential building. The number of people trapped remains unknown.
“An entire entrance section of an apartment building was destroyed. Homes in eight districts of Kyiv were damaged,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that emergency crews are still working at the scenes of multiple strikes, including in Odesa, and that at least 75 people were injured. The number of confirmed deaths across Ukraine stood at 15 as of the morning of June 17. The president extended condolences to the families of the victims.
“These are pure acts of terrorism,” Zelenskyy stressed. “And the entire world — the U.S., Europe — must finally respond as civilized nations respond to terrorists. Putin is doing this simply because he’s still allowed to wage war. He wants the war to continue. It is dangerous when the world’s powerful choose to look away.”
He said Ukraine is in contact with international partners “at all possible levels” to ensure an appropriate response.
“Terrorists must feel pain — not peaceful, innocent people,” he added.
The Russian missile and drone barrage targeted Kyiv and several other regions early on June 17. In the capital’s Solomianskyi District, an entire section of a residential building collapsed. A fire broke out in a five-story apartment block, and damage was reported at a kindergarten and several non-residential buildings in the Darnytskyi District. Industrial areas were hit in Dniprovskyi, and debris fell in open terrain in the Podilskyi District, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
With 15 confirmed deaths, this was the deadliest attack on Kyiv since the July 8, 2024, strike on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, which killed 33 people. The previous deadliest assault occurred on April 24, 2025, when 13 people were killed in the capital.
