Russian drone strikes kill seven in Kyiv as allies clear €6.6B fund and Patriot licences

Strikes across Kyiv and regional centres

Russian forces carried out daytime and overnight drone strikes across Kyiv on Friday, killing seven people and wounding 46 others according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. An early morning strike hit a 16-storey residential building in the Pechersk district, where charred apartments on the ninth and tenth floors trapped residents. A 14-year-old Israeli citizen was killed in that building, and his mother was among the 20 people injured in the Pechersk incident. In the afternoon, another drone struck a car park adjacent to an office building in the Solomianskyi district, leaving four people dead at their workplace and damaging nearby facades. Russian strikes also hit southern and eastern regions, killing one person at a postal logistics facility in Odesa. Emergency workers in Zaporizhzhia evacuated seven patients after a drone strike damaged a local hospital and sparked a fire.

Targeting of digital networks and commercial sites

Russian strikes also focused on civilian telecommunications and digital infrastructure across Ukrainian cities. Friday's daytime attack in Kyiv damaged the Inkom business centre, which houses equipment operated by the telecom provider Datagroup. The Russian defence ministry stated that its forces targeted a data centre used by Ukrainian military intelligence, but Datagroup confirmed that its services continued operating via backup locations. The physical damage in Kyiv caused secondary municipal disruptions, disabling public transport electronic schedule boards in the north-western city of Lutsk. Wednesday strikes had already caused internet outages for approximately 100,000 households in the Kyiv region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes against commercial and tech assets, noting that a warehouse used by McDonald's was also hit near Kyiv.

The Russians are constantly expanding their escalation operation: American and other businesses, data centres, internet providers - for Russia, all ordinary life is simply a target.

Allied funding and air-defence licensing

Allied Western governments announced new military funding and arms-manufacturing authorizations for Ukraine. European Union member states approved the release of €6.6 billion from the European Peace Facility, unblocking funds that had been vetoed by Hungary until Peter Magyar replaced Viktor Orban as prime minister in April. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stated that €4.7 billion will reimburse member states for arms deliveries, €1 billion will go toward joint weapons procurement, and €900 million will fund the EU training mission for Ukrainian troops. Concurrently, President Zelensky confirmed that US President Donald Trump granted final approval for Ukraine to produce Patriot air-defence system missiles under American licence.

Moscow's hybrid attacks try to intimidate Europe into scaling back its support for Ukraine. Europe is doing the opposite.

Cross-border retaliation and diplomatic positioning

Ukrainian forces conducted reciprocal overnight drone operations against strategic facilities inside Russia. Ukrainian strikes hit two oil refineries, an arms manufacturing factory, and military radar installations across multiple Russian regions. In the border region of Belgorod, local Russian authorities reported that a drone attack killed a married couple. Following these cross-border strikes, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow is reviewing its stance on whether to resume peace talks with Kyiv. The exchange of strikes follows lethal attacks on Thursday, when Russian strikes killed two people in Kyiv and seven civilians at an agricultural farm in the Kharkiv region.