Zelensky rages at Russia after strike on Kyiv housing block kills 24

KYIV – President Volodymyr Zelensky called on May 15 for Moscow to be punished after laying red roses at the rubble of a Kyiv apartment building where a Russian missile strike killed 24 people, including three children.

Rescue workers ended search operations at the devastated building, which was struck on May 14 during Russia’s heaviest air attack on the Ukrainian capital in 2026.

“Our first responders... worked non-stop for more than a day,” Mr Zelensky said on the Telegram app after visiting the site of the attack in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district on the left bank of the Dnipro river, laying flowers and talking to rescue workers.

“The Russians practically levelled an entire section of the building with their missile,” he added.

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 two consecutive days, Ukrainian officials said.

Six people were killed in western Ukraine, far from the front line.

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

Moscow’s Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out massive strikes on Ukraine on May 12 to May 15, the Russian state news agency RIA reported.

Day of mourning in Kyiv

Kyiv officials announced a day of mourning on May 15 to honour the victims, with national flags at half-mast across the city of three million people. All entertainment events were cancelled or postponed.

Residents brought flowers, stuffed animals and sweets to a makeshift memorial at the destroyed housing block.

The Interior Ministry said hundreds of rescuers had sifted through 3,000 cubic metres of rubble in 28 hours of searching.

City officials said 24 bodies were recovered from the rubble and about 30 people were rescued alive.

Nearly 50 people were wounded and about 400 people required psychological support, the interior ministry said.

“My friend lived on the second floor. They found her around 7pm - I don’t remember exactly - along with her husband,” said Ms Tetiana Prudyus, 34, who had brought red roses.

“I know a lot of people here... I want to say one thing,” she said, holding back tears. “Even after this, we won’t surrender. We’re a very strong nation.”

Mr Zelensky has said initial analysis shows the building was hit by a recently made Russian Kh-101 missile.

Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians but during more than four years of war, it has frequently hit residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in air strikes across Ukraine.

Ukraine has also carried out drone attacks on Russia.

Four people, including a child, were killed in an attack on the central Russian city of Ryazan on May 15 that damaged high-rise apartment buildings and hit an unnamed industrial enterprise, the regional governor said.

Ukraine said it had struck a Russian oil refinery in Ryazan. REUTERS