Zelenskyy calls for 'tough' sanctions on Russia after major air attack on Kyiv

LONDON -- Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine came under a major combined missile and drone attack overnight into Thursday, Ukrainian officials said, with at least 15 people -- three of them children -- killed in the capital.

"Kyiv is under massive attack," the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Timur Tkachenko said in a post on Telegram. At least 48 people were injured across the city, the military administration said.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 598 drones and 31 missiles into the country overnight, of which 563 drones and 26 missiles were shot down or suppressed. Impacts were reported across 13 locations, the air force said, with falling debris reported in 26 locations.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post to Telegram that it was "a terrible night" for the capital. He reported "many damaged buildings" across five city districts.

"These include both non-residential buildings and high-rise apartments," Klitschko said. "Educational institutions, transport infrastructure. Emergency services are working on site everywhere."

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes represented "a clear response to everyone in the world who for weeks and months has been calling for a ceasefire and real diplomacy. Russia chooses ballistics over the negotiating table. It chooses to continue the killings rather than end the war."

"This means that Russia still does not fear the consequences," Zelenskyy added. "Russia still takes advantage of the fact that at least part of the world closes its eyes to the killed children and looks for excuses for Putin."

Zelenskyy urged a response from nations like China and Hungary, which have expressed sympathy with Russia's position. "It is definitely time for new tough sanctions against Russia for everything it is doing," he added.

"All deadlines have already been missed, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy have been spoiled. Russia must feel its responsibility for every strike, for every day of this war," Zelenskyy wrote.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the overnight strikes also damaged damaged the building housing the European Union mission to Ukraine in Kyiv. "We insist on strong international reactions to Russia’s brutal strike on Kyiv and other cities," Sybiha wrote in a post to X.

European Council President Antonio Costa confirmed the damage to the building in a post to social media, describing the attack as a "Russian deliberate strike."

"Horrified by yet another night of deadly Russian missile attacks on Ukraine," Costa wrote. "The EU will not be intimidated. Russia’s aggression only strengthens our resolve to stand with Ukraine and its people," he added.

The latest barrage continued the nightly tempo of Russian strikes, though the scale of the attacks through August have so far been smaller than in July and June. In August so far, Russia has launched a daily average of around 118 drones and four missiles into Ukraine, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News.

The daily averages for July were around 201 drones and six missiles, and in June 181 drones and eight missiles.

Wednesday night's strike was the largest on Ukraine since Aug. 21 and the first major strike on Kyiv for several weeks.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the strikes, which continue despite White House efforts to broker a peace deal.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukrainian officials will meet with members of the Trump administration in New York on Friday. On the agenda are security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future Russian aggression -- a key element of the negotiations that took center stage when Zelenskyy and a slate of European leaders visited the White House last week.

"The task is to accelerate as much as possible so that this too becomes a lever – a lever of influence: the Russians must see how seriously the world is determined and how dire the consequences will be for Russia if the war continues," Zelenskyy said Wednesday.

Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 102 Ukrainian drones overnight.

ABC News' Nataliia Popova, Natalia Kushniir, Oleksiy Phemyskiy and Guy Davies contributed to this report.