Russian strikes on Kyiv kill, maim dozens in their homes across city – UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission
On Thursday night, the Russian Federation launched strikes on Kyiv using loitering munitions and cruise missiles, resulting in a large number of civilian casualties, with people killed and injured in their homes in various areas of the city, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said.
“Last night’s horrific strikes shattered families, with reports of at least eleven civilians killed, including a six-year-old boy, and over 130 injured, among them children,” said Danielle Bell, Head of HRMMU.
The Mission emphasized that their team visited the sites of shelling and saw residential buildings reduced to ruins and residents desperately waiting for news about missing relatives.
In Sviatoshynsky district, a missile destroyed an entire section of a nine-story apartment building. At the site, rescue efforts were continuing, and residents whose homes had been destroyed were receiving humanitarian assistance. Human rights monitors spoke with people who were waiting as emergency workers continued to search for their relatives believed trapped under the rubble.
Witnesses described shock at the strike, which happened so fast that they did not have time to seek shelter. Windows in at least five neighboring buildings were shattered by the intense blast. In Solomiansky district, a five-story apartment building was severely damaged. At least two people were killed there, and a number of others remain missing.
“With at least 27 locations affected across four districts in a single night, the scale of the destruction is alarming,” Bell said. “Homes, businesses and public buildings are being destroyed, and it may take years to rebuild them. And each new attack compounds the psychological toll on people who have to spend night after night in shelters.”
In its monthly update on the protection of civilians, the HRMMU noted that in June 2025, the Russian Federation launched ten times more missile and loitering attacks on Ukraine than in June 2024.
June was marked by the highest number of civilian casualties in the last three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 injured. Preliminary data for July suggests that this dangerous trend continues. The heavy shelling is affecting not only areas close to the front line, but also settlements well away from it.