KYIV — Russia launched a barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles on Kyiv overnight into Tuesday, killing at least 15 people in its deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital in almost a year.

At least 124 people were injured, with 68 of them transported to local hospital, the head of the Kyiv Military Administration told Ukrainian media at the site of one of the attacks.

One strike hit a multi-story residential building, splitting it in two and leaving a huge gap where dozens of homes were just moments before. Five lifeless bodies were pulled out of the rubble by Tuesday midday, with rescue operations continuing into the afternoon.

Nastya, a chef at a well known restaurant whose family asked for her last name not to be published, lived in the building. She was pulled out of the rubble and was in an intensive care unit at a local hospital, they said.

The Russian assault was the deadliest on the capital in almost a year, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said on Tuesday.

“Last night’s attack was the fourth time this month that Russian armed forces launched more than 400 munitions in a single night. By comparison, Russian armed forces launched 544 long-range munitions during the entire month in June 2024,” the HRMMU said in a statement.

Late on Monday, Kyiv residents heard the sirens alerting them to an imminent aerial attack, and it turned out to be another long and frightening night.

Russia was once again attempting to inundate Ukrainian air defenses with wave after wave of drones and missiles.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said in a Telegram post that residential buildings and other infrastructure were severely damaged.

“We hope that no dead will be found under the rubble, but we cannot rule it out,” he added. “The death toll may increase.”

Klitschko said in the message that a US citizen was killed in the Solomyanskyi district of Kyiv overnight. The mayor said the person was 62 years old and “died in a house opposite to the one where medics were providing assistance to the victims,” without giving any more details.

Despite the civilian deaths and evidence of direct strikes on residential buildings, the Russian defense ministry said on Tuesday that it targeted “military-industrial complex facilities in the Kyiv region and Zaporizhzhia.”

The Ukrainian Air Force said 440 drones and 32 missiles were launched at Ukraine overnight and added that it manage to destroy 428 of them.

Russia has ramped up its airborne attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, launching as many as 479 drones and missiles in a single night. Ukrainian officials say these assaults are not just bigger and more frequent; they are also more concentrated and executed in a way that makes them a lot more difficult to combat – as they are flown at higher altitudes, out of reach of machine guns.

Some 27 locations in different districts of Kyiv came under fire in the latest attack, according to a statement from Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Ihor Klymenko.

“Rescuers, police and medics are working. They are doing everything they can to help the victims, clear the rubble and save lives,” he said.

The strikes come as US President Donald Trump announced he would return to Washington a day early from the Group of 7 summit in Canada.

His early departure means he will miss a key meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the event.

It would have been the leaders’ third meeting since Trump took office in January.

Ukrainian officials had been hoping that a positive interaction with Trump could advance Kyiv’s case amid Moscow’s intensifying attacks.

Meanwhile, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu arrived in Pyongyang on a “special mission” from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Shoigu is scheduled to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Tass reported Tuesday.

Pyongyang has continued support for Moscow’s war on Ukraine as world leaders push for an end to the three-year conflict.

North Korea has sent soldiers and millions of munitions, including missiles and rockets, to Russia over the past year, according to a May report by an international watchdog, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team.

The US has warned that Russia may be close to sharing advanced space and satellite technology with North Korea in exchange for continued support for the war in Ukraine.

Under Trump, the US has been less willing to equip badly outgunned Ukraine directly, has pushed European partners to pick up more of the support and threatened to walk away altogether from peace talks. — CNN