Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia launched a mass missile attack on Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine on the morning of July 8, killing at least 41 civilians and injuring 149 others.
The aerial attack targeted Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk, Pokrovsk, and Kramatorsk, damaging "50 civilian sites, including residential buildings, a business center, and two medical facilities," the State Emergency Service reported.
So far, at least 27 people, including three children, have been recorded killed in Kyiv. Another 82 were injured in the capital, according to Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. Two more people suffered injuries in Kyiv Oblast.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, where the cities of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih are located, 11 people were killed and 62 were injured, the State Emergency Service said.
Three people were killed and other three suffered injuries in a Russian strike on the Donetsk Oblast city of Pokrovsk on the morning of July 8, the State Emergency Service reported.
More than 10 explosions could be heard in Kyiv the morning, according to Kyiv Independent reporters on the ground. Air defense was active in the capital's suburbs, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
As a result of the attack, missile debris fell in the Solomianskyi, Dniprovskyi, Holosiivskyi, Desnianskyi, Darnytskyi, and Schevchenkyvskyi districts, the city administration said.
Buildings were reportedly damaged across the city, with fires breaking out in the Desnianskyi and Dniprovskyi districts.
The Okhmatdyt hospital, Ukraine's largest children's medical center, was hit in the attack, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
A residential building was also hit in the Schevchenkyvskyi district, damaging its entrances and destroying one of them, Klitschko said. First responders are trying to rescue people trapped under the rubble, he added.
Three transformer substations operated by DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, were destroyed or damaged, the company said.
A company representative told the Kyiv Independent that no other energy equipment apart from the substations was damaged.
At least three projectiles targeted the area near the Lukianivska metro station, including the one that hit the Okhmatdyt hospital, a witness told the Kyiv Independent.
One of the entrances was closed due to the debris and glass lying on the road nearby.
Vadym Trush, 23, a vendor working at the metro station, told the Kyiv Independent that 30-40 people hid underground when the attacks happened.
"We don't normally go to the shelter at work, but this time we decided to go. Because we heard strikes in the city. About 5, 10 minutes later, there were three hits," Trush said.
During a separate attack against Kyiv later during the day, debris hit the Isida maternity hospital, killing seven people and injuring three, the State Emergency Service said.
In another aerial attack in the early hours of July 8, the Air Force reported downing three out of the four cruise missiles over Zhytomyr and Cherkasy oblasts. No casualties or damage were reported.
The strikes took place on the eve of the NATO summit in Washington, where Ukraine hopes to receive long-term aid commitments from the allies.
"And the entire world must use all its determination to finally put an end to the Russian strikes," Zelensky said on X.
"Killing is what (Vladimir) Putin brings. Only together can we bring real peace and security."
The July 8 attack has been the deadliest in months, with the casualty figures comparable to massive strikes carried out by Russia during the winter. Russian forces launched a number of large-scale attacks during the spring, but these mostly targeted energy infrastructure.
Martin Fornusek
