Night attack on Kyiv: What is known about destruction, casualties and injured

During the night of April 24, Russia launched a combined attack on Kyiv using ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as "Shahed" drones. According to the latest data, eight people were killed and more than 70 injured. Numerous structures in the capital were damaged, and fires broke out.

Read all about the nighttime attack on Kyiv at TSN.ua.

Around 1:00–2:00 a.m., Kyiv was struck by a combined assault, including ballistic missile strikes from multiple directions. Air defense systems were activated. Local authorities reported hits on civilian infrastructure.

“Everything was flying: "Kalibrs", ballistic missiles, "Shaheds". In Kyiv and the region alone, 45 drones were detected. We are awaiting official information from the Air Force,” Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko reported.

Fires broke out in the Holosiivskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, and Obolonskyi districts.  Garages, houses, and cars were engulfed in flames. A McDonald’s near the Lukianivska metro station was damaged. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, a total of 12 buildings were damaged in Kyiv.

Sviatoshynskyi district suffered the most

The Sviatoshynskyi district suffered the most damage, Klitschko confirmed. Fires broke out in six locations, and one residential building was completely destroyed.

“It was an old building, constructed at the end of World War II. Unfortunately, nothing remains of it,” said Roman Tkachuk, director of the Kyiv City State Administration’s Municipal Security Department, on the “Kyiv24” broadcast.

He added that 15 people lived in that building. After the attack, only six were found. Rescuers are clearing the rubble, under which people may still be trapped.

Tkachuk noted that there were a total of 18 detected “impact sites” of Russian missiles and drones across Kyiv.

Klitschko reported that a support center for victims was set up in the Sviatoshynskyi district.

The Central Palace of Marriage in Kyiv was also damaged. The blast wave shattered windows and damaged the interior. Despite this, employees of the State Registration of Civil Status Acts continue to perform their duties. Services are being provided to citizens as usual, with all essential functions fully operational.

“Solemn registrations have been temporarily relocated to other departments,” the institution stated.

Casualties and injuries

According to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, at least 8 people were killed in the strikes on Kyiv, and over 70 were injured. Klitschko reported that 77 people sought medical assistance. The State Emergency Service noted that six of the injured were children. Currently, 44 victims remain hospitalized.

“We can confirm eight killed. The ninth person we initially considered deceased turned out to be body parts of other casualties,” the minister clarified.

Rescuers are clearing the rubble of the destroyed building in the Sviatoshynskyi district.

“Phone ringtones can be heard from under the debris. The search will continue until we are certain everyone has been recovered. There is information about two missing children at the site,” the minister emphasized.

According to Klymenko, psychologists from the State Emergency Service and police are assisting at every location where people were affected.

In the Sviatoshynskyi district, 84-year-old Olena Lunivna was killed. Footage from the scene shows her daughter, Liudmyla, sitting beside her mother’s body, mourning her loss.

People are being rescued from the rubble

Rescuers pulled a young man alive from the ruins of a building in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district.“An ambulance just arrived. Rescuers pulled out a man, approximately under 30 years old, who had been trapped under the rubble for more than six hours. He has been hospitalized and is receiving all necessary medical care,” said Pavlo Petrov, spokesman for the Kyiv branch of the State Emergency Service.

The man was conscious and responded to the rescuers’ voices, which helped them accurately locate his position.

Rescue operations continue in three districts: Sviatoshynskyi, Obolonskyi, and Shevchenkivskyi.

How Kyiv residents survived the nighttime attack — eyewitness accounts

While Russian forces struck the Ukrainian capital and air defense systems responded, many Kyiv residents waited out the air raid alert in the subway, which became their temporary shelter. There, the resilient citizens sang “Oi, u Luzi Chervona Kalyna.” Among those singing was Tetiana Ivanivna — a Ukrainian singer (folk soprano), soloist of the National Honored Academic Ukrainian Folk Choir named after Hryhoriy Veryovka (since 2006), and a People's Artist of Ukraine (2023).

Kyiv resident Nadiia shared her experience of surviving the attack. She lost her home but managed to save her child and pets. She said the walls of her apartment were blown out.

“I thought everything had collapsed and my child was gone. She had been right there by the entrance door. Then we managed to find some clothes. The walls were gone — I just pushed them aside. With the dog and my child. Documents — everything, the three of us. I took my child to the shelter. And I still had the cat left, so I went back for the cat,” Nadiia recounted.

Tetiana, a resident of Sviatoshynskyi district, spoke through tears, saying many people she knew were killed. A journalist told her, “The most important thing is that you’re alive.” To which she replied, “Yes, but so many people died — people we knew. It’s heartbreaking. And very frightening.”

“All the doors were blown out. Everything that could be broken was broken. Sure, the apartment is intact — great, wonderful — but it’s just wreckage inside, nothing’s left. Honestly, I think I hit my head: I feel a bit dizzy and nauseous,” Tetiana said.

She also shared that a family of her brother’s friends was killed. The bodies of the father and a young girl have been found, but the mother and another child are still missing — possibly trapped under the rubble.