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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Putin accused of ‘sabotaging’ peace efforts after diplomatic | |
buildings hit in massive assault on Ukraine | |
By Laura Sharman, Svitlana Vlasova, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Catherine | |
Nicholls, Betsy Klein | |
Updated: | |
1:49 AM EDT, Fri August 29, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
European leaders expressed outrage after Kyiv was bombarded by | |
Russia’s second-biggest aerial attack since its full-scale invasion | |
of Ukraine, with at least 23 people killed, including four children, | |
according to officials. | |
Buildings belonging to the European Union and the British Council were | |
damaged in the strikes into Thursday, causing both the EU and the | |
United Kingdom to summon the top Russian diplomats in their capitals. | |
Among those killed were children aged 2, 17 and 14, according to Tymur | |
Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. The vast | |
majority of those killed – 22 – died in a strike on a five-storey | |
building in the Darnytskyi district, according to emergency services. | |
Ukraine’s air force said that the Kremlin unleashed 629 air attack | |
weapons on the country overnight, comprising 598 drones and 31 | |
missiles. | |
Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for the air force, told CNN that | |
the strikes comprised “one of the largest combined attacks” on the | |
country. | |
Russia’s defense ministry said it struck “military-industrial | |
complex enterprises and military air bases in Ukraine” using | |
“high-precision weapons.” | |
Ukrainian authorities said hundreds of responders were sent to | |
incidents in multiple locations, including a building used by the EU | |
mission to Ukraine and the British Council. | |
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of targeting | |
diplomats “in direct breach of the Vienna convention” and called | |
for “worldwide condemnation” in a statement on X. | |
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that she was | |
“outraged” by the incident, calling it “another grim reminder of | |
what is at stake.” | |
“These Russian missiles and attack drones today are a clear response | |
to everyone in the world who, for weeks and months, has been calling | |
for a ceasefire and for real diplomacy,” he said in an earlier post. | |
The EU chief spoke to both Zelensky and US President Donald Trump | |
following the strikes, von der Leyen added in a , also stating that | |
Russian President Vladimir Putin “must come to the negotiating | |
table.” | |
The EU mission, which has been based in Kyiv since 1993, works to | |
“promote the political and economic relations” between Ukraine and | |
the EU, among other mandates, according to its website. | |
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Putin was “killing children and | |
civilians, and sabotaging hopes of peace.” | |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr called the assault a “horrific and | |
deliberate killing of civilians” in a on X. “It shows that the | |
Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine, blindly killing | |
civilians, men, women and children, and even targeting the European | |
Union,” she said. | |
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was still | |
interested in peace talks, but emphasized that the “special military | |
operation,” Russia’s way of describing the war, “continues.” | |
Trump was “not happy” but “not surprised” by the strikes, the | |
White House said Thursday, adding that he was watching the developments | |
“intently.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told | |
reporters that Trump wants the war to end, but both Putin and Zelensky | |
“must want it to end as well.” | |
The White House’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, also | |
condemned the overnight strikes, that “these egregious attacks | |
threaten the peace that (Trump) is pursuing.” | |
‘I looked up – the roof was gone’ | |
Vitaliy Protsiuk, a resident of Kyiv, told CNN that his wife has been | |
missing since the attack. | |
The couple were getting ready to go to their building’s bomb shelter | |
when there was an “explosion,” Protsiuk said. | |
“I was buried,” he continued. “When I came out, everything was | |
covered in dust and smoke. I looked up – the roof was gone, and the | |
floors from the fourth to the first were completely destroyed. | |
“As of now, my wife hasn’t been found. Her phone doesn’t respond. | |
She’s not listed anywhere. I don’t know… we’re still | |
searching,” Protsiuk added. | |
Residents endured an air raid alert lasting more than nine hours | |
overnight, according to interior minister Ihor Klymenko. | |
Agency pictures showed locals flocking once more to subway stations | |
where many spent the night. Residents were advised to “stay in | |
shelters” during the strikes and the all-clear was announced shortly | |
before 7am local time. | |
The major attack on Ukraine’s capital comes just over two weeks after | |
Trump held with Putin, seeking to secure and end the war. | |
But momentum around the discussions has stalled, with no sign that a | |
bilateral meeting the White House has pushed between Zelensky and Putin | |
will take place. | |
On Wednesday, Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelensky’s office, and | |
Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and | |
Defense Council, met with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister to discuss | |
an end to the conflict. | |
A delegation from Ukraine is also set to meet US officials in New York | |
on Friday, according to Zelensky. | |
Meanwhile, Putin is set to travel to China next week to attend a | |
massive military parade. Other guests will include North Korean leader | |
Kim Jong Un, as well as Russia-friendly European leaders such as | |
Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia and Slovakia’s Robert Fico. | |
The attack on Kyiv is the latest in a series of Russian assaults across | |
Ukraine this week. | |
Ukrainian open-source researchers confirmed on Tuesday that Russian | |
troops had in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region. | |
Russian forces now occupy the villages of Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka, | |
according to DeepState, a group tracking battlefield developments. | |
Ukraine’s outmanned and outgunned military has struggled to fend off | |
grinding Russian advances in much of the east as Moscow increases | |
pressure on Kyiv to give up territory in any peace negotiations. | |
“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” | |
Zelensky wrote in his message on X after the latest overnight attacks. | |
“It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war. And this | |
means that Russia still does not fear the consequences.” | |
In his analysis of Russia’s latest strikes on Kyiv, Tkachenko said | |
the Kremlin has a typical “signature” which involves “combined | |
attacks from different directions” and targeting “ordinary | |
residential buildings.” | |
Decoy missiles were used as false targets to confuse Ukrainian defense | |
systems, the military chief added. | |
Several high-rise residential buildings were damaged, as well as a | |
kindergarten, private housing, non-residential blocks, offices, | |
transport infrastructure and dozens of cars, officials said. | |
Friday has been declared a day of mourning in Kyiv, according to city | |
authorities. Flags will be flown at half-mast, with entertainment | |
events canceled, it said. | |
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