At least 24 killed, including 3 children, in Russian strike on Kyiv housing block

Ukrainian chairwoman Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on fri for capital of the russian federation to be punished after he set red river roses at the rubble of a Kyiv apartment building where a Russian missile strike killed 24 people, including three children.

Rescue workers ended search operations at the devastated building, which was struck this week during Russia's heaviest air attack on the Ukrainian capital this year.

"Our first responders ... Worked non-stop for more than a day," Zelenskyy said on the Telegram app after visiting the site of the attack in Kyiv's Darnytskyi district, on the left bank of the Dnipro river, placing flowers and talking to rescue workers.

"The Russians practically levelled an entire section of the building with their missile," he said.

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, launched more than 1,500 drones and dozens of missiles in attacks across Ukraine this week over two consecutive days, Ukrainian officials said.

Six people were killed in the attacks on Wednesday in western Ukraine, far from the front line.

"A Russia like this can never be normalized — a Russia that deliberately destroys lives and hopes to remain unpunished. Pressure is needed," Zelenskyy said, reiterating appeals to allies to help Ukraine strengthen its air defences.

Moscow's Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out massive strikes on Ukraine on Tuesday through to Friday, the Russian state news agency RIA reported.

Kyiv officials declared Friday a day of mourning, with national flags at half-mast across the city of three million. All entertainments were canceled or postponed.

Residents brought flowers, stuffed animals and sweets to a makeshift memorial at the destroyed housing block.

The Interior Ministry said the search and rescue operation at apartment building lasted more than 28 hours and hundreds of rescuers sifted through 3,000 cubic metres of rubble.

City officials said 24 bodies had been recovered from the rubble and about 30 people had been rescued alive. Nearly 50 people were wounded, and about 400 people required psychological support, the ministry said.

"My friend lived on the second floor. They found her around 7 p.m. — I don’t remember exactly — along with her husband,” said Tetiana Prudyus, 34, who had brought red roses.

"I know a lot of people here ... I want to say one thing," she said, holding back tears. "Even after this, we won't surrender. We're a very strong nation."

Zelenskyy has said that, according to initial analysis, a recently manufactured Russian Kh-101 missile struck the building.

Russia did not immediately comment on the strike on the apartment building. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians but during more than four years of war it has frequently hit residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in airstrikes across Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia and ‌Ukraine ​exchanged ​the bodies of ​their ⁠respective ⁠fallen ‌soldiers on Friday with Moscow receiving ⁠41 bodies and ‌Ukraine receiving 526, Russia's ​state ⁠RIA ⁠news ⁠agency ⁠reported.

Ukrainian drones killed four people, including a child, overnight in the central Russian city of Ryazan on Friday, damaging two high-rise apartment buildings and an unnamed industrial site, said Pavel Malkov, the regional governor. Twelve people were injured, seven of whom were being treated in hospital, Malkov said.

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Malkov said work was under way to deal with the consequences of the attack and promised financial help for those whose relatives had been killed or injured. 

Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's drone forces, said separately that its drones had struck a large oil refinery in Ryazan which has been hit multiple times, with the most recent confirmed strike occurring last December.

Kyiv has stepped up drone attacks on targets deep inside Russia, aiming to knock out oil refineries, depots and pipelines as both sides seek to degrade each other's infrastructure.

The Ryazan region is southeast of Moscow. Its most southerly frontier is 354 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

The unofficial Telegram site Mash showed pictures of smoke rising from a high-rise building and said one entrance to the building had been blocked, preventing residents from leaving. Other unofficial sites showed several apartments ablaze.

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