Kyiv in mourning after strikes as allies discuss military support

A day of mourning has been declared in Kyiv after the second biggest aerial attack of the war so far killed at least 23 people, including four children.

The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said it was to honour the dead, as a massive recovery effort continues at the five-storey block of flats where 22 of the 23 were killed.

The attack has been widely condemned – the White House said President Donald Trump was “not happy” but not surprised, while European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia would “stop at nothing to terrorise Ukraine”.

Meanwhile, EU defence ministers are meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday to discuss military support for Ukraine.

The attack also damaged the EU’s diplomatic mission and the British Council building in central Kyiv.

Speaking on the way into Friday’s meeting, Lithuania’s Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “cheaply buying time to kill more people”.

“Hopes of possible peace negotiations are at least naïve when we look at what is happening in Ukraine and what just happened [on Thursday],” she added.

Estonia’s Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said the best security guarantee for Ukraine would be membership of Nato.

Overnight from Thursday into Friday saw less fighting, although both Russia and Ukraine reported shooting down dozens of drones.

Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov said five settlements in his region had been attacked, with one person being killed in Kupyansk.

Trump had hoped to organise a summit involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin to bring an end to the war, but those efforts have since stalled.

Speaking after Thursday’s attack, Zelensky said Moscow had chosen “ballistics instead of the negotiating table”, and reiterated the need for “new, tough sanctions” on Russia.

Speaking after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it seemed unlikely now that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky would take place.