In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lays flowers at the site of Russia's Tuesday deadly missile attack that ruined a multistory residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (Associated Press)
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said a Russian missile strike on a nine-story Kyiv apartment building was a sign that more pressure must be applied on Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, as Moscow intensifies attacks in the three-year war.
The drone and missile attack on Kyiv early on Tuesday, the deadliest assault on the capital this year, killed 28 people across the city and injured 142 more, Kyiv Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said on Thursday.
Zelenskyy, along with the head of the presidential office Andrii Yermak and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, visited the site of the apartment building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district Thursday morning, laying flowers and paying tribute to the 23 people who died there after a direct hit by a missile collapsed the structure.
“This attack is a reminder to the world that Russia rejects a ceasefire and chooses killing,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, and thanked Ukraine's partners who he said are ready to pressure Russia to “feel the real cost of the war.”
Intensifying attacks
Tuesday's attack on Kyiv was part of a sweeping barrage as Russia once again sought to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. Russia fired more than 440 drones and 32 missiles in what Zelenskyy called one of the biggest bombardments of the war, now in its fourth year.
As Russia proceeds with a summer offensive on parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, U.S.-led peace efforts have failed to gain traction. Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected an offer from U.S. President Donald Trump for an immediate 30-day ceasefire, making it conditional on a halt on Ukraine’s mobilization effort and a freeze on Western arms supplies.
Meanwhile, Middle East tensions and U.S. trade tariffs have drawn world attention away from Ukraine’s pleas for more diplomatic and economic pressure to be placed on Moscow.
Russia in recent weeks has intensified long-range attacks that have struck urban residential areas. Yet on Wednesday, Putin denied that his military had struck such targets, saying that attacks were “against military industries, not residential quarters.”
Speaking to senior news leaders of international news agencies in St. Petersburg, Putin said he was open to talks with Zelenskyy, but repeated his claim that the Ukrainian leader had lost his legitimacy after his term expired last year — allegations rejected by Kyiv and its allies.
“We are ready for substantive talks on the principles of a settlement,” Putin said, noting that a previous round of talks in Istanbul had led to an exchange of prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers.
Prisoners exchanged
A new round of such exchanges took place in Ukraine's Chernihiv region on Thursday, involving the repatriation of Ukrainian prisoners of war who, according to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (KSHPPV), were suffering from severe health issues caused by injuries and prolonged detention.
The exchange was confirmed by Russia's Defense Ministry, which released a video of Russian servicemen at an exchange area in Belarus after being released in the prisoner swap.
Commenting on the exchange, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram: “We are working to get our people back. Thank you to everyone who helps make these exchanges possible. Our goal is to free each and every one.”
Many of the exchanged Ukrainian POWs had spent over three years in captivity, with a large number captured during the defense of the now Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in 2022, according to the KSHPPV, which added that preparations for another prisoner exchange are ongoing.
In St. Petersburg on Wednesday, Putin praised Trump’s push for peace in Ukraine. But Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Thursday that it was his country that had “unconditionally accepted” the U.S. proposal for a ceasefire, and said that Russian claims of willingness to end the war were “manipulations.”
“It has been exactly 100 days since Ukraine unconditionally accepted the U.S. peace proposal to completely cease fire, put an end to the killing, and move forward with a genuine peace process … 100 days of Russia escalating terror against Ukraine rather than ending it,” Sybiha wrote.
“Ukraine remains committed to peace. Unfortunately, Russia continues to choose war, disregarding U.S. efforts to end the killing,” he added.
Overnight on Wednesday, Russia fired a barrage of 104 Shahed and decoy drones across Ukraine, according to the country's air force. Of those, 88 were intercepted, jammed, or lost from radars mid-flight.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage caused by the attack.
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Ukrainian Emergency Service work on the site of Russia's Tuesday deadly missile attack that ruined a multi-storey residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Associated Press)
In this aerial photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, searchers sift through the wreckage on the site of Russia's Tuesday deadly missile attack that ruined a multistory residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Associated Press)
Damaged private cars are seen on the site of Russia's deadly missile attack on Tuesday, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Associated Press)
In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, June 19, 2025, Russian servicemen with Russian national flags pose for a photo at an exchange area in Belarus after returning from captivity during a POWs exchange of a group of servicemen between Russia and Ukraine. (Associated Press)
