In a tragic turn of events, Russian assaults resulted in the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian civilians in under 48 hours on Monday and Tuesday, marking some of the deadliest days in recent months, according to Ukrainian officials. Among those killed were a five-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl, as the attacks coincided with the gathering of Ukraine’s allies for an important NATO meeting in the Netherlands.
On Tuesday, a Russian ballistic missile struck Dnipro, claiming 15 lives in the largest city of southeastern Ukraine, while nine others perished in a strike on a residential building in Kyiv on Monday. Additional strikes across the nation, including regions like Sumy, Kherson, Donetsk, and Odesa, led to at least two dozen more fatalities.
Local officials in Dnipro reported unprecedented damage from the missile, with Mayor Borys Filatov stating that nearly 50 buildings, including schools and hospitals, were affected. “This is an unprecedented amount of destruction that the city has never seen before in the entire time of the full-scale war. The number of victims is so high that even ambulances cannot keep up,” he remarked. More than 170 people were reported injured, with approximately 100 still hospitalized by Tuesday evening. The missile strike also damaged a passenger train carrying around 500 individuals, and the mayor noted more than 2,000 shattered windows across various municipal facilities and residences.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended the NATO summit in The Hague, where he met with European leaders before addressing the Dutch parliament. Despite Ukraine not being a NATO member, Zelensky continues to push for membership amidst ongoing tensions with Russia, which opposes the alliance’s expansion.
During the summit, Zelensky engaged with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Council President Antonia Costa, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, all of whom reaffirmed their support for Ukraine. He expressed a desire to meet with US President Donald Trump later in the day, with an earlier planned meeting at the G7 summit in Canada having been canceled due to Trump departing unexpectedly.
As global attention turned to the Middle East, Zelensky underscored the strong ties between Iran and Russia, highlighting Iran’s role as one of Moscow’s main supporters since the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022. U.S. officials report that Iran has supplied Russia with a variety of weaponry, including short-range ballistic missiles and drones. The Iranian regime’s connection has bolstered Russia’s recent aerial assaults, with Zelensky stating that since 2022, Russia has launched over 28,000 Shahed drones against Ukraine, including 2,736 just this month.
“Russia could never have done this without its ties to the Iranian regime,” Zelensky contended. He warned that there are no indications that President Putin is willing to cease hostilities: “Russia rejects all peace proposals, including those from the United States of America. Putin only thinks about war. That’s a fact. Maybe he connects his own political survival with his ability to keep killing; so long as he kills, he lives.”
Efforts at peace talks have stagnated primarily due to Russia’s refusal to compromise and its presentation of a ceasefire proposal that amounts to Ukraine’s capitulation. In discussions during the summit, British Defense Secretary John Healy stressed the importance of not losing focus on Ukraine amid ongoing Middle Eastern conflicts. “Putin wants our focus to slip, and part of the strong message from NATO is that we will not let that happen, and this session is an important part of that,” he emphasized.
Earlier on Monday, Zelensky had met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles III in London. Kyiv officials reported that the strike on the apartment building killed several family members. Journalist Lusy Alekseenkova recounted her heartbreak, revealing that her brother, his wife, and her sister-in-law’s father lost their lives in the Kyiv attack, with her 16-year-old nephew being the only survivor. The same incident also claimed the lives of a mother and her 11-year-old daughter, as described by Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv Military Administration, who said it took hours to recover the girl’s body.