Russian envoys summoned as UK and EU offices hit in Kyiv

Four children among 21 people killed in one of worst attacks of conflict

- Aletha Adu Jessica Elgot Dan Sabbagh Kyiv

Russian envoys to the UK and the European Union were summoned yesterday after missile strikes on Kyiv killed at least 21 people and damaged the city's British Council and EU offices, in the most deadly assault on the Ukrainian capital since the Alaska summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Four children were among those reported dead after a residential building was hit in the middle of Wednesday night in the eastern Darnytskyi district, Ukraine's interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said.

Hours later, another person was killed in a separate blast in Kyiv's central Shevchenkivskyi district, which left the buildings and offices - including those housing the EU delegation to Ukraine and the British Council - severely damaged. It is the first time British government property has been caught up in a Russian attack since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

Ukraine's air force said the nation had been targeted with 629 missiles and drones overnight, one of the biggest aerial attacks mounted by Russia since the invasion. A wave of strikes could be heard from the city centre after 3am and again, more loudly, shortly after 5:30am.

Officials reported impacts at more than 20 locations around Kyiv. A further 38 people were wounded.

Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said the strikes threatened the US president's proposals to end the war. "These egregious attacks threaten the peace that [Trump] is pursuing," Kellogg said on social media, noting that they hit "innocent civilians" and EU and British missions in the Ukrainian capital.

The Foreign Office in London summoned Russia's ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin, at 1pm, in direct response to the severe damage inflicted on the building, government sources said.