At least 23 dead in overnight Kyiv attack as UK and EU summon Russian envoys.

Missile strikes on Ukrainian capital hit EU and British Council offices in deadliest assault in months.

The UK have summoned their Russian envoys after overnight missile strikes on Kyiv killed at least 23 people and damaged the city’s British Council and EU offices, in the deadliest aerial assault on the Ukrainian capital since the Alaska summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Four children were among those killed after a residential building in the eastern Darnytskyi district was struck in the middle of the night, according to Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko.

Hours later, another person died in a separate blast in Kyiv’s central Shevchenkivskyi district, which left the buildings and offices severely damaged, including those housing the EU delegation to Ukraine and the British Council.

Overnight raid kills more than a dozen people as European leaders condemn ‘deliberate’ targeting of civilians and institutions.

UK summons Russian ambassador after overnight attacks on Kyiv

UK foreign secretary David Lammy has now confirmed that the British government has summoned the Russian ambassador to the UK Foreign Office.

In a brief post on X, he said:

“Putin’s strikes last night killed civilians, destroyed homes and damaged buildings, including the British Council and EU Delegation in Kyiv.

We have summoned the Russian Ambassador. The killing and destruction must stop.”

The incident marks the first time British government property has been caught up in a Russian attack since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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 February 2022 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.

Trump was unhappy but “not surprised” at the attack, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, while urging “both sides” to end the war.

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.

“Putin’s strikes last night killed civilians, destroyed homes and damaged buildings, including the British Council and EU Delegation in Kyiv,” the foreign secretary, David Lammy, posted on X.

“We have summoned the Russian ambassador. The killing and destruction must stop.”

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, condemned the attacks as “senseless” and accused Russia of “sabotaging hopes of peace”.

Photos circulated by the British Council showed the building with its windows and entrance smashed open and surrounded by glass and debris. Separate pictures released by the commission showed wrecked office interiors with collapsed ceiling panels and shattered glass doors and windows.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko urged partners to ramp up pressure on Russia as they called for further sanctions against Moscow