Kyiv mourns as death toll from Russian strike climbs to 28

By Dan Peleschuk

KYIV (Reuters) -Flags across Kyiv were lowered to half-mast on Wednesday, as Ukrainians mourned more than two dozen people killed a day earlier in Russia's deadliest strike on the capital this year.

Russia sent 440 drones and fired 32 missiles during the overnight attack, said President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, partly flattening a residential building, in the latest blow to a war-weary population as diplomatic efforts to end the grinding conflict bear little fruit.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday the death toll had reached 28, but that a search operation was continuing. Two people were also killed in a separate strike on the southern port city of Odesa.

Residents visited the site of the partly destroyed apartment building, where rescue workers dug through chunks of debris amid the din of heavy machinery. A Reuters correspondent saw two bodies being removed from the rubble.

"That kind of nation has no right to exist and bring such suffering to people," said Alla Martyniuk, 46, referring to Russians.

Ukrainian officials said about 27 locations in Kyiv, including educational institutions and critical infrastructure, had been hit during the multi-wave attack. Scores more people were wounded.

Russia's defence ministry said it had used air, land and sea-based missiles and drones to strike "objects of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine" in the Kyiv region and southern Zaporizhzhia province.

Moscow has stepped up drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in recent weeks as talks to end the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, have yielded few results.

Zelenskiy left the Group of Seven summit in Canada on Tuesday saying diplomacy was in "crisis" after having missed the chance to press U.S. President Donald Trump for more weapons.

Kyiv is eager for critical aid from Washington, which has been its biggest military backer during the war, but the Trump administration has not announced any new packages.

Sofiia Holovatenko, 21, who lives nearby, came to lay flowers at the site, where residents had created makeshift memorials that included children's toys.

"It shocks me, especially when it happens near your home. You just can't ignore this."

(Reporting by Yurii Kovalenko; Writing by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Alex Richardson)