Death Toll in Russia’s Overnight Attack on Kyiv Rises to 16

Russian forces launched a major combined missile and drone attack on Kyiv overnight into Thursday, Aug. 20, killing at least 16 people and injuring 41 as strikes damaged residential buildings, a children’s hospital, a school, and other civilian infrastructure across the Ukrainian capital.

The State Emergency Service (SES) reported that the death toll rose from 15 to 16 on Thursday, around 6:20 p.m., after rescuers found one additional victim.

The number of injured victims rose from 39 to 41, as two people were injured after drone debris hit an office building in the Holosiivskyi district.

Emergency crews continued working at a strike site in the Solomianskyi district as well, where a nine-story residential building and nearby homes were damaged.

The toll could rise further, as emergency services remained working at the affected sites, assessing the full scale of damage.

Hot water disruptions

Residents of the Desnianskyi district and parts of the Dniprovskyi district could face disruptions to hot-water supplies following the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Separately, Klitschko said on Thursday that Russian attacks have damaged around 4,000 of Kyiv’s 12,000 buildings, or roughly one in three.

The capital continues to equip shelters and seek for funding to prepare for the upcoming winter season, with plans to install mobile shelters in the city’s most critical locations by the end of the year.