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War in Ukraine

The Harrowing First Hours After Russia’s Deadliest 2025 Strike on Kyiv, In Photos

Russia’s Deadliest 2025 Strike on Kyiv

In the dead of night, as families slept, a Russian missile tore through Kyiv’s sky—and then their homes. On April 24, 2025, Ukraine’s capital suffered its deadliest missile and drone attack since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Russia killed at least 12 people and injured 90 more, including children and a pregnant woman.

3 min read
Authors
Josh Olley
Josh Olley
Photographer

Russia launched its attack at around 1 a.m. A missile supplied by North Korea slammed into a residential neighborhood in the Sviatoshynskyi district, collapsing entire sections of apartment buildings and igniting fires that lit up the night. 

The youngest victim was just 18 months old. Others ranged in age from toddlers to the elderly. For over 12 hours, Ukrainian rescuers and civilians worked shoulder to shoulder, clawing through concrete and mangled steel, searching for any sign of life beneath the rubble.

In a race against time, first responders comb through the ruins of a destroyed apartment block, hoping to find signs of life beneath the rubble left after a Russian missile strike on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo: Serhii Korovayny @serhiikorovayny)
In a race against time, first responders comb through the ruins of a destroyed apartment block, hoping to find signs of life beneath the rubble left after a Russian missile strike on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo: Serhii Korovayny @serhiikorovayny)
An injured woman wears a pair of military boots given to her by a stranger to protect her bare feet after the missile strike. Rescuers and civilians work through the night to pull victims from the wreckage after a missile reduced a Kyiv apartment building to ruins on April 24, 2025. Among the 90 injured: six children and a pregnant woman. (Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
An injured woman wears a pair of military boots given to her by a stranger to protect her bare feet after the missile strike. Rescuers and civilians work through the night to pull victims from the wreckage after a missile reduced a Kyiv apartment building to ruins on April 24, 2025. Among the 90 injured: six children and a pregnant woman. (Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Neighbors and first responders rescue a pregnant woman buried under rubble. Russia’s strike killed 12 and injured dozens more, leaving families shattered on April 24, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Neighbors and first responders rescue a pregnant woman buried under rubble. Russia’s strike killed 12 and injured dozens more, leaving families shattered on April 24, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Side by side in tragedy: volunteers and emergency crews sift through the ruins, racing to find life beneath the concrete on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo: Anton Shtuka @shtukaanton)
Side by side in tragedy: volunteers and emergency crews sift through the ruins, racing to find life beneath the concrete on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo: Anton Shtuka @shtukaanton)
Still in pajamas, a young woman stands in shock amid the rubble of her home. Russia’s missile turned her neighborhood into a disaster zone on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Still in pajamas, a young woman stands in shock amid the rubble of her home. Russia’s missile turned her neighborhood into a disaster zone on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Hands in dust, hearts in sync: rescuers and volunteers clear debris from a shattered Kyiv apartment building struck by a Russian missile on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine.  (Photo: Anton Shtuka @shtukaanton)
Hands in dust, hearts in sync: rescuers and volunteers clear debris from a shattered Kyiv apartment building struck by a Russian missile on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine.  (Photo: Anton Shtuka @shtukaanton)
A stretcher carries a young girl to safety after the missile strike. Scenes like this played out across Kyiv as the injured were pulled from the ruins after a Russian missile strike hit a residential building on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine.  (Photo: Anton Shtuka @shtukaanton)
A stretcher carries a young girl to safety after the missile strike. Scenes like this played out across Kyiv as the injured were pulled from the ruins after a Russian missile strike hit a residential building on April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine.  (Photo: Anton Shtuka @shtukaanton)
State Emergency Service workers and local residents work side by side to clear rubble after a Russian missile struck a residential building in the early hours of April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
State Emergency Service workers and local residents work side by side to clear rubble after a Russian missile struck a residential building in the early hours of April 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Exhausted and working under ongoing threat, rescuers continue the search for survivors. The April 24 attack has been called Kyiv’s most devastating in nearly a year. (Photo: Serhii Korovayny @serhiikorovayny )
Exhausted and working under ongoing threat, rescuers continue the search for survivors. The April 24 attack has been called Kyiv’s most devastating in nearly a year. (Photo: Serhii Korovayny @serhiikorovayny )
Step by careful step, rescuers carry an injured elderly woman from the wreckage of a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 24, 2025. (Photo: Serhii Korovayny @serhiikorovayny )
Step by careful step, rescuers carry an injured elderly woman from the wreckage of a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 24, 2025. (Photo: Serhii Korovayny @serhiikorovayny )
Bandaged and dazed, an injured man is helped away from the site of the missile strike. Dozens of others suffered similar wounds in the early-morning attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 24, 2025. (Photo: Serhii Korovayny @serhiikorovayny)
Bandaged and dazed, an injured man is helped away from the site of the missile strike. Dozens of others suffered similar wounds in the early-morning attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 24, 2025. (Photo: Serhii Korovayny @serhiikorovayny)
Kyiv’s emergency workers remained on-site for over 12 hours. Psychologists from the State Emergency Service were also on-site, providing support to survivors in the immediate aftermath. (Photo: Pavlo Petrov @petrovp.photo)
Kyiv’s emergency workers remained on-site for over 12 hours. Psychologists from the State Emergency Service were also on-site, providing support to survivors in the immediate aftermath. (Photo: Pavlo Petrov @petrovp.photo)
Morning of Russia’s deadliest strike on Kyiv in 2025. Exhausted yet resilient, State Emergency Service workers continue their efforts until the last person is recovered from the rubble. (Photo: Pavlo Petrov @petrovp.photo)
Morning of Russia’s deadliest strike on Kyiv in 2025. Exhausted yet resilient, State Emergency Service workers continue their efforts until the last person is recovered from the rubble. (Photo: Pavlo Petrov @petrovp.photo)
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