Putin Furious! Russian Ballistic Missiles Explode in Kyiv, People Trapped
A barrage of Russian ballistic missiles rained down on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in the early hours of Thursday. The deadly attack killed at least three people and injured twenty others, as well as damaging various important buildings and cutting off electricity in parts of the city.
Citing Reuters on Thursday (20/08/2026), fierce fires broke out immediately after Russian forces struck the upper floors of a nine-storey residential building. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the horror from the scene via the Telegram messaging app.
“People are trapped elsewhere as Moscow struck non-residential facilities and apartments, warehouses, and a children’s hospital,” he said.
An eyewitness at the scene reported hearing more than a dozen loud explosions that shook the city. Not only in the city centre, a local official in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital also stated separately on Telegram that one additional person had been killed as a result of the widespread attack.
As background, Russia and Ukraine have continued to exchange attacks on a daily basis following the full-scale invasion launched by Moscow in February 2022. Various diplomatic efforts involving the United States and Europe have so far completely failed to bring about a lasting ceasefire.
Regarding these diplomatic efforts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this month announced that Kyiv had submitted a peace proposal to US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. However, Steve and Jared were last known to have been in Moscow in January and have so far made no visit at all to Kyiv to discuss plans to end the war.
Responding to the slow pace of diplomatic dynamics, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova provided clarification to the Izvestia newspaper. Maria stressed that the Russian side had not yet received any specific proposal regarding a possible new meeting with the US negotiators.
“However, Moscow will be ready to arrange a meeting at short notice,” she concluded.