Ukraine attacks Russia with drones after suffering three days of strikes

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, launched more than 1,500 drones and dozens of missiles in attacks across Ukraine this week over three consecutive days, Ukrainian officials said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy pays tribute to the victims of the missile that hit the apartment block in Kyiv. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

“A Russia like this can never be normalised, a Russia that deliberately destroys lives and hopes to remain unpunished. Pressure is needed,” Zelenskyy said, reiterating appeals to allies to help Ukraine strengthen its air defences.

City officials in Kyiv said 24 bodies had been recovered from the rubble and about 30 people had been rescued alive. Nearly 50 people were wounded, and about 400 people required psychological support, the interior ministry said.

Russia did not immediately comment on the strike on the apartment building. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians but during more than four years of war it has frequently hit residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in airstrikes across Ukraine.

Russian authorities said four people, including a child, had been hit in the Ukrainian strikes. Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a terrorism investigation after the strikes, saying they had targeted “residential and civilian infrastructure”.

“Two residential multi-storey buildings and an industrial facility were damaged,” it said.

Witnesses suggested the target of the strikes in Ryazan appeared to be the oil refinery, one of Russia’s largest, which was engulfed in a large blaze after being hit by several impacts.

Kyiv officials announced a day of mourning on Friday to honour the victims, with national flags at half-mast across the city of 3 million people. All entertainment events were cancelled or postponed.

The interior ministry said the search-and-rescue operation at the apartment building lasted more than 28 hours and hundreds of rescuers sifted through 3,000 cubic metres of rubble.