A 14-year-old Israeli boy was killed Friday when a Russian drone struck his family’s home in central Kyiv, not far from the Israeli Embassy, ynet has learned. His mother was wounded in the attack and hospitalized.
The boy’s family has asked for his body to be flown to Israel for burial, where his grandparents live.
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The residential building in central Kyiv struck by a Russian drone, killing a 14-year-old Israeli boy and wounding his mother
The strike hit a 16-story residential building in Kyiv’s central Pecherskyi district at about 8 a.m., according to Ukrainian authorities. Kyiv police said the boy was killed and at least seven residents were wounded, while later figures from Mayor Vitali Klitschko put the number of injured across the capital at nine, eight of whom were hospitalized.
Ukrainian officials said the drone struck the upper floors of the apartment building, with reports placing the impact between roughly the seventh and 10th floors. Emergency crews, police investigators, bomb disposal experts and medical teams were dispatched to the scene.
The residential building in central Kyiv struck by a Russian drone, killing a 14-year-old Israeli boy and wounding his mother
The Israeli Embassy is located on Lesi Ukrainky Boulevard in Kyiv’s Pecherskyi district.
The deadly strike came as Russia continued an intensified campaign of drone attacks against Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said Friday’s assault also struck residential and nonresidential buildings elsewhere in the capital. In the southern Odesa region, authorities reported that another person was killed in Russian strikes on a residential area and logistics facilities.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces carried out overnight drone strikes targeting Ukrainian defense industry facilities, logistics centers and vessels used by the Ukrainian military. Moscow has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians.
The residential building in central Kyiv struck by a Russian drone, killing a 14-year-old Israeli boy and wounding his mother
The attack follows weeks of increasingly intense Russian drone operations. Russia has deployed faster, higher-flying jet-powered versions of its Shahed-style attack drones, which Ukrainian forces have found more difficult to intercept than their propeller-driven predecessors. Reuters reported this week that the new drones can fly at altitudes of 4 to 7 kilometers and have placed additional strain on Ukraine’s air defenses.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, beginning a war that has subjected Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities to repeated missile and drone attacks. The United Nations has warned that Russia’s sustained use of long-range missiles and drones in densely populated areas has been a major driver of civilian casualties.