Extract from ABC News
People lay flowers at the site of a Russian missile strike that killed 24 people. (AP Photo: Efrem Lukatsky)
In short:
Twenty four people died, including three children, in a Russian missile strike on a Kyiv apartment building.
It was part of Russia's heaviest bombardment of the Ukrainian capital this year.
What's next?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed retribution against Russia for the attack.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed retribution against Russia for a missile strike on a Kyiv apartment building that killed 24 people, including three children.
The nine-storey building was destroyed on Thursday during Russia's heaviest bombardment of the Ukrainian capital this year.
Mr Zelenskyy visited the site in the Darnytskyi district, laying roses amid the rubble and talking to rescue workers as search operations were called off.
"Ukraine will not allow any of the aggressor's strikes that take the lives of our people to go unpunished," he said after meeting military and intelligence officials to discuss retaliatory long-range strikes.
"We are entirely justified in our responses against Russia's oil industry, weapons industry, and those directly responsible for committing war crimes against Ukraine and Ukrainians."
Rescue workers are scouring the rubble for 20 people believed missing in the Kyiv apartment building. (AP: Evgeniy Maloletka)
Kyiv officials declared Friday a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast across the city.
Residents brought flowers, stuffed animals and sweets to a makeshift memorial at the destroyed housing block.
A portrait of a girl in a school uniform, posed against a bright yellow backdrop, was among the photos.
Oksana Honcharenko managed to survive the attack but she said the pain was "indescribable" and "heartbreaking".
"When we opened the front door, we saw flames and an abyss. Half the staircase and the apartment across the hall were completely gone," she told Reuters.
"We didn't do anything to deserve this — why are our little children dying?
"We all pray and ask so much for this horror to end."
Residents of a Kyiv apartment building were seen in tears after Thursday's attack. (AP: Efrem Lukatsky)
Ukrainian officials said Russia launched more than 1,500 drones and dozens of missiles at targets in Ukraine since Wednesday, adding that about 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings.
Six people were also killed in western Ukraine, far from the front line.
Moscow's Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out massive strikes on Ukraine between May 12 and 15, Russian state media reported.
Ukrainian prisoners of war released in first phase of planned swap
US President Donald Trump said the strikes on the Ukrainian capital, launched hours after a three-day US brokered ceasefire expired, could disrupt peace efforts to end the war.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, Russia and Ukraine agreed to swap 1000 prisoners of war.
Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine has brought home 205 service personnel from Russian captivity in the first stage of the swap.
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the exchange and thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping to broker it.
Russia considers Belarus attack on NATO country
Zelenskyy says Russia has plans to draw Belarus deeper into the Russia-Ukraine war by attacking Ukraine's north or a NATO country from Belarusian territory.
"Russia is considering plans for operations to the south and north of Belarusian territory — either against the Chernihiv-Kyiv direction in Ukraine or against one of the NATO countries directly from the territory of Belarus", Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app after meeting military and intelligence officials.
Ukraine is continuing to "document Russia's attempts" on increasing Belarusian involvement, he said.
Ukraine also knows of additional contacts between Russia and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to persuade him to join "new Russian aggressive operations".
There was no response to the comments by Moscow or Minsk. Moscow does not disclose its military plans in Ukraine.
Reuters/AP
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