In the early hours of June 17, 2025, Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv, Odesa, and other Ukrainian cities. The assault, widely condemned as a deliberate act of terror, claimed the lives of at least 14 civilians, including a U.S. citizen, and injured more than 100 people, among them children. Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district was among the hardest hit, where an entire section of a nine-story apartment building collapsed.
Civilians Buried Under Rubble
At 3 a.m., Kyiv residents awoke to sirens and explosions. One missile struck a residential complex in Solomianskyi, bringing down the entire stairwell and severely damaging neighboring buildings. Survivors sifted through debris searching for photographs, memories—and their former lives, shattered in an instant. Emergency workers continue to pull bodies and survivors from the wreckage.
So far, 99 people have been reported injured in Kyiv alone, a number that may rise as recovery efforts continue. Rescuers confirm that all 14 fatalities in the capital occurred in this single residential collapse.
Civilian Targets in the Crosshairs
Once again, Russia has demonstrated that it is not conducting a military campaign, but state-sponsored terrorism. Missiles and drones targeted residential neighborhoods, not military sites—especially in Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district. Key urban infrastructure was also damaged, including transport networks, industrial sites, and electrical systems.
Even a kindergarten and university dormitories were hit. The Kyiv Aviation University reported structural damage to its student housing, and in Darnytskyi district, children were found beneath the rubble of a destroyed preschool.
A City Under Siege, A World Watching
This attack marks one of the most brazen assaults on a European capital in recent memory. In 2025, in the heart of Europe, missiles fell on a sleeping city. Apartments, cars, and lives were lost. If the global response is limited to “deep concern”, it becomes passive approval of violence against civilians.
Kyiv is not a battlefield. This is not Ukraine’s internal matter—it’s a direct threat to international peace and security. Russia’s deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure is a clear violation of international law and a crime against humanity.
Air Defense Saved Thousands—But Not All
Ukrainian air defense successfully intercepted most of the incoming missiles, but even one that slips through can devastate lives. Ukraine urgently needs more air defense systems. Every delay in delivery is a potential collapsed building, a lost child, or a burned-out kindergarten.
Russia’s war crimes have names and faces. Those responsible—from generals to bureaucrats—must face justice in The Hague.
Tomorrow, It Could Be Any City
What happened today in Kyiv could happen tomorrow in Kharkiv, Lviv, Warsaw, or Vilnius. If the world does not act decisively, the silence of governments becomes louder than the explosions in Ukraine’s capital. It becomes complicity.
Terror must not become the new normal.
