Russia Unleashes Record 48-Hour Aerial Assault — Kyiv Apartment Building Demolished, 24 Killed Including 3 Children; Mayor Klitschko Calls It 'Largest-Scale Attack on Capital'

In a 48-hour aerial barrage spanning May 13–14, 2026 — deliberately timed, Ukraine alleged, to coincide with US President Trump's state visit to China — Russia launched what Ukrainian officials described as the most massive and sustained aerial assault of the entire war. The combined attack included 1,428 Shahed-type kamikaze drones (a single-day record), more than 50 missiles, 91 airstrikes dropping 302 guided aerial bombs, 3,418 artillery shelling attacks, and 120 multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) attacks across Ukraine. Kyiv was the primary target. Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared it 'the largest-scale attack on the capital': twenty separate locations were struck, including a multi-story residential apartment building that was completely demolished, a school, and a veterinary clinic. At least 24 people were killed in Kyiv alone — including 3 children (one a 15-year-old girl, one a 2-month-old infant) — and 48 people were wounded in the apartment building strike. Rescuers searched rubble for survivors into the following day. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 94% of drones but only 73% of missiles — a critical gap that Zelensky publicly cited as requiring urgent Western support. A day of mourning was declared in Kyiv. President Zelensky stated: 'This is a deliberate terrorist tactic by the Russians, who amassed drones and missiles over a period of time and intentionally calculated the strike. Russia is clearly trying to spoil the general political background at the expense of Ukrainian lives and Ukrainian infrastructure.' On the same day, the Kremlin reiterated its demand that Ukraine order its armed forces to withdraw from Donetsk Oblast and Russian-occupied territories as a precondition for any peace talks — a demand Ukraine categorically rejected. Day 1,540 of the full-scale invasion.