After hours of relentless airstrikes that began in the dead of night, Kyiv is left reeling from one of its most devastating assaults since the onset of the conflict. Eyewitness accounts detail the chaos and heartbreak following the arrival of Russian cruise missiles, with citizens grappling to make sense of the destruction around them.

Evhen Povarenkov, a resident in the Solomianskyi neighbourhood, was unable to reach safety as a missile crashed into his apartment building, severely damaging his home and leaving him with injuries. "Everything was destroyed," he recounted. After enduring this trauma, he found temporary shelter after neighbors helped rescue his elderly mother, who sustained life-threatening injuries.

The attack, which resulted in the deaths of at least 30 individuals, demonstrates the indiscriminate nature of armed conflicts as these missile strikes targeted residential areas at high speed. Following this assault, medical facilities like the 12th Kyiv City Clinical Hospital saw a surge of wounded patients, sustaining injuries ranging from soft tissue damage to severe internal injuries. Many of the affected were elderly, unable to escape the violence swiftly.

Contributing to the horror was the chaos that enveloped the city during the bombardment. Eyewitnesses spoke of horrific scenes: explosions, flames, and a cacophony of screams. The destruction was compounded by the emotional toll on surviving residents, with many losing everything material such as Oleksandr Bondarchuk, whose home was also obliterated during the attack.

As Kyiv sought support amid heightened vulnerability, another layer of distress unfolded at the international level when President Volodymyr Zelensky, attending the G7 summit, faced an unyielding crisis back home. His anticipated meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump vanished amidst unfolding chaos, while European leaders failed to issue a united front in support of Ukraine's plight.

Memorials began to emerge across the city, flowers laid at the scene of the devastation as people mourned in solidarity. Local rescue teams continued their grim work, looking for survivors or the lost amid the debris, whilst the world watches, highlighting an urgent need for enhanced international aid and defense capabilities for Ukraine in this tragic time.