RUSSIA – Russian President Vladimir Putin was just hours away from killing UK workers with his double-tap rocket strike on a British Council building and the European headquarters in Kyiv.
The two buildings were struck overnight as Russia unleashed a barrage of drones and hypersonic missiles on the Ukrainian capital leaving at least 18 dead.
Dramatic footage shows a missile slamming into the structure in a fireball explosion at around 5:40am, before a second followed 20 seconds later leaving it ‘severely damaged’.
The British Council building, which offers educational courses and English language programmes, is run independently but receives sponsorship from the Foreign Office.
British nationals are recruited from the UK to teach at the centre, and many would likely have been inside had the strike occurred just a few hours later, after it opened at 9am.
Another building that was occupied by the European Union’s delegation to Kyiv was also hit with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accusing Moscow of a ‘deliberate’ strike and ‘targeting the EU’.
A furious Keir Starmer accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ‘sabotaging’ any hopes of peace while Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks showed ‘Russia still does not fear the consequences’.
While no EU staff was harmed, a security guard was injured in the British Council attack.
There was also bloodshed across the city, with Putin launching 629 drones and missiles – including hypersonic rockets – across the country, the second-highest figure of the entire war, leaving apartment buildings in tatters and at least 18 dead.
It comes as Putin continues to stall on talks about ending the war and despite US President Donald Trump’s push for a ceasefire.
Following the strikes, the EU has summoned Moscow’s envoy in Brussels. Kaja Kallas the bloc’s Foreign Policy Chief said: ‘It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorise Ukraine, blindly killing civilians, men, women and children, and even targeting the European Union’.
She also warned: ‘No diplomatic mission should ever be a target.’ A number of EU officials have called the attack ‘deliberate’. At dawn, residents and emergency workers were clearing debris from streets covered with broken glass and rubble.
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