A major Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv kills at least 21 people

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a major air attack on Kyiv early on Thursday that included a rare strike on the center of Ukraine's capital, killing at least 21 people, wounding 48 and damaging European Union diplomatic offices, authorities said.

The bombardment of drones and missiles was the first major Russian attack on Kyiv in weeks as U.S.-led peace efforts to end the three-year war struggled to gain traction. Britain said the attack sabotaged peace efforts, while top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas summoned Russia’s EU envoy to Brussels over the strikes that damaged EU offices.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on airstrikes against Ukraine on Friday afternoon at the request of Ukraine and the five European council members — Britain, France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece. Two of Ukraine’s top envoys were set to meet Friday with the Trump administration regarding mediation.

The Kremlin said Russia remained interested in continuing peace talks despite Thursday's air attack, which was one of the war's biggest since it began in 2022.

Among the dead were four children between 2 and 17, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city administration. He said more people could still be under the rubble, and search and rescue efforts continued on Thursday evening.

Also Thursday, the Trump administration approved a $825 million arms sale to Ukraine that will include extended-range missiles and related equipment to boost its defensive capabilities as U.S. efforts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia appear to have stalled. The State Department said Ukraine would use funding from NATO allies Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway in addition to U.S. foreign military financing to pay for the equipment.

The attack was one of the few times Russian drones and missiles have penetrated the heart of Kyiv since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 598 strike drones and decoys and 31 missiles of different types across the country early Thursday, most of them striking targets in Kyiv.

At least 33 locations across all 10 of the city's districts were directly hit or damaged by debris, Tkachenko said. Thousands of windows shattered as nearly 100 buildings were damaged, including a shopping mall in the city center.

Oleksandr Khilko arrived at the scene after a missile hit the residential building where his sister lives in the capital’s Darnytsia district. He heard screams from people who were trapped under the rubble and pulled out three survivors, including a boy.

“It’s inhuman, striking civilians,” Khilko said, his clothes covered in dust and the tips of his fingers black with soot. “With every cell of my body I want this war to end as soon as possible. I wait, but every time the air raid alarm sounds, I am afraid.”

Sophia Akylina said her home in Kyiv's Holosiivskyi district was damaged.

“It’s never happened before that they attacked so close,” the 21-year old said. “Negotiations haven’t yielded anything yet, unfortunately people are suffering.”

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said two strikes landed 20 seconds apart about 50 meters (165 feet) from the EU Mission to Ukraine building in Kyiv. She said no staff were injured in the strike.

“No diplomatic mission should ever be a target. In response, we are summoning the Russian envoy in Brussels,” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said Thursday in a post on X.

The British Council, which promotes cultural relations and educational opportunities, also said its Kyiv office had been “severely damaged” in the attack and was closed to visitors until further notice.

The organization posted a photo showing the building with its windows and entrance smashed open and surrounded by glass and debris. A guard was injured and is “shaken but stable,” council chief executive Scott McDonald posted on X.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “sabotaging” hopes of peace following the “senseless” strikes. The Russian ambassador to London was summoned to the foreign office.

Thursday's attack is the first major combined Russian mass drone and missile attack to strike Kyiv since U.S. President Donald Trump met with Putin in Alaska earlier this month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X following the attack. “We expect a response from everyone in the world who has called for peace but now more often stays silent rather than taking principled positions.”

While a diplomatic push to end the war appeared to gain momentum shortly after that meeting, few details have emerged about the next steps.

Western leaders have accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts and avoiding serious negotiations while Russian troops move deeper into Ukraine. This week, Ukrainian military leaders conceded Russian forces have broken into an eighth region of Ukraine seeking to capture more ground.

Zelenskyy hopes for harsher U.S. sanctions to cripple the Russian economy if Putin does not demonstrate seriousness about ending the war. He reiterated those demands following Thursday's attack.

Trump bristled this week at Putin’s stalling on an American proposal for direct peace talks with Zelenskyy. Trump said Friday he expects to decide on next steps in two weeks if direct talks aren’t scheduled.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday said it was “clear that a meeting between President Zelenskyy and President Putin will not take place."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized both Putin and Zelenskyy after the Thursday attack on Kyiv.

She said that Trump “was not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised” by Russia’s Thursday air assault on the Ukrainian capital.

Leavitt noted that Ukraine has also launched effective assaults on Russia’s oil industry in recent weeks.

“Perhaps both sides of this war are not ready to end it themselves,” Leavitt said. “The president wants it to end, but the leaders of these two countries … must want it to end as well.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it carried out a strike against military air bases and companies “within Ukraine’s military-industrial complex” using long-range weapons, including Kinzhal missiles.

“All designated objects were hit,” the ministry said in a statement.

Ukraine has ramped up domestic arms production to fight Russia’s invasion. Many weapons factories operate covertly, with some embedded in civilian areas with superior air defenses. Indiscriminate Russian attacks claiming to target Ukraine’s defense industry have killed many civilians.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said it shot down 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, mostly in the country’s southwest. A drone attack sparked a blaze at the Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, local officials said, while a second fire was reported at the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Samara region.

Ukrainian drones have repeatedly struck refineries and other oil infrastructure in recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Russia’s war economy, causing gas stations in some Russian regions to run dry and prices to spike.

Ukraine’s national railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, reported damage to its infrastructure in the Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions, causing delays and requiring trains to use alternative routes.

Associated Press journalists Yehor Konovalov, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine; Sam McNeil in Brussels; Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England; Daniel Niemann in Cologne, Germany. and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.

A pile of shattered glass from a storefront window sits outside a salon as a hairdresser shampoos a client's hair, after Russia's drone and missile attack that damaged residential buildings in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)

A residential building is seen damaged by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A man carries a sofa at his apartment damaged by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Rescue workers carry an injured woman after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Firefighters work on the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A man is seen among rubble from his apartment damaged by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Firefighters carry a victim's body from a damaged building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Firefighters work at the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Firefighters work at the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Rescue workers carry an injured woman after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy to Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Firefighters work on the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Firefighters work on the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Firefighters work on the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Firefighters work on the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks during the press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier fires a mortar towards positions of Russian troops near Kostyantynivka in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Thursday was the final day to select an Affordable Care Act health insurance plan across much of the country, as the expiration of federal subsidies drives up health costs and lawmakers remain locked in a debate over how to address the issue.

That's when the open enrollment window ends in most states for plans that start in February. About 10 states that run their own marketplaces have later deadlines, or have extended them to the end of the month to give their residents more time.

The date is a crucial one for millions of small business owners, gig workers, farmers, ranchers and others who don't get their health insurance from a job and therefore rely on marketplace plans. A record 24 million Americans purchased Affordable Care Act health plans last year.

But this year, their decisions over health coverage have been more difficult than usual as clarity over how much it will cost is hard to come by. And so far, enrollment is lagging behind last year's numbers — with about 22.8 million Americans having signed up so far, according to federal data.

Last year, for months, it was unclear whether Congress would allow for the end-of-year expiration of COVID-era expanded subsidies that had offset costs for more than 90% of enrollees. Democrats forced a record-long government shutdown over the issue, but still couldn't get a deal done. So the subsidies expired Jan. 1, leaving the average subsidized enrollee with more than double the monthly premium costs for 2026, according to an analysis from the health care nonprofit KFF.

Still, the question of whether Congress would resurrect the tax credits loomed over Washington. Several enrollees told The Associated Press they have either delayed signing up for coverage or signed up with a plan to cancel as they anxiously watch what's happening on Capitol Hill.

Last week, the House passed a three-year extension of the subsidies after 17 Republicans joined with Democrats against the wishes of Republican leaders. But the Senate rejected a similar bill last year.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has been leading a bipartisan group of 12 senators trying to devise a compromise and said this week that he expects to have a proposal by the end of the month. The contours of the senators’ bipartisan plan involves a two-year deal that would extend the enhanced subsidies while adding new limits on who can receive them. The proposal would also create the option, in the second year, of a new health savings account that President Donald Trump and Republicans prefer.

Under the deal being discussed, the ACA open enrollment period would be extended to March 1 of this year to allow people more time to figure out their coverage plans after the disruption.

Still, Republicans and Democrats say they have not completed the plan, and the two sides have yet to agree if there should be new limits on whether states can use separate funds for abortion coverage.

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced outlines of a plan he wants Congress to consider that would. It would, among other things, redirect ACA subsidies into health savings accounts that go directly to consumers. Democrats have largely rebuffed this idea as inadequate for offsetting health costs for most people.

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Mascaro contributed from Washington.

FILE - Pages from the U.S. Affordable Care Act health insurance website healthcare.gov are seen on a computer screen in New York, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)