Twelve people were killed and 21 injured in Russian air attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region, authorities have said, in the sixth consecutive day of strikes on the Ukrainian capital.

Attacks both in Ukraine and Russia continue as efforts are ongoing to find a solution to end the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War II.

Authorities said eight people were killed within Kyiv and that most of them were railway workers who died after a ballistic missile hit a rail depot.

Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, chief executive of Ukrainian Railways, said six of the company’s employees were killed.

He said the attack caused “extensive destruction”, including the complete devastation of a workshop, while fires continued to burn at some sites.

Another four people were killed in the Kyiv region, Ukrainian prosecutors announced, saying a residential building was damaged in the suburb of Boryspil.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said 50 people were evacuated from the building in Boryspil.

“Russia always plans its strikes specifically to cause as much destruction to people’s lives as possible, and it succeeds only when air defence capabilities are insufficient,” he said on social media.

The daily Russian strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region are disrupting the lives of millions of people. Air raid alerts covered most of Ukraine’s territory in the early hours of this morning.

Ukrainian children returned to school today, and the Kyiv regional military administration has warned there must be no large events in high-risk areas.

Russia has been increasing attacks on Ukraine’s borders, in addition to energy and logistic facilities, and today a fresh strike stopped border crossings into Romania – a member of the European Union and NATO – at Orlivka on the Danube river.

In Russia, a drone attack caused a fire in the port area of Ust-Luga, a major export outlet in the northwest, and Moscow was repelling drones.

In Russia’s Samara region, home to a number of major oil refineries some 800km southeast of Moscow, an air attack damaged civilian facilities, the local governor said on Telegram.

Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians. Reuters could not independently verify the damage reports.

Peace efforts

Mr Zelensky said yesterday that he held a “detailed and constructive” call with US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and that the sides were working to finalise dates for their visit to Ukraine aimed at advancing peace efforts.

The same day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the war needed to end for humanity’s sake. The Kremlin leader said Moscow was “moving forward along this path”.

The conflict has prompted some NATO members, especially those bordering Russia, to bolster their military capabilities, also in the wake of intensifying drone incidents in the border areas.

The NATO Baltic air policing mission has briefly activated jet fighters in Latvia, and Finland has restricted air and maritime traffic close to Russia, armed forces of both countries said separately on X, as drones were flying over Russia’s Leningrad region where Ust-Luga is located.

Margus Tsahkna, foreign minister of Estonia, which has also briefly issued air threat alert today, in a post on X he thanked NATO for reacting “swiftly and exactly as planned” by putting fighter jets in air.