A devastating wave of Russian airstrikes hit Ukraine early Tuesday, June 17, killing at least 15 people—including a 62-year-old U.S. citizen—and injuring 131 others in one of the deadliest overnight assaults on Kyiv in recent months.

Chilling video footage captured the moment a kamikaze drone flew directly into the upper floors of a multi-storey residential building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district. The drone exploded on impact, igniting a massive fireball while most residents were still asleep.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that people were still trapped under rubble as rescue teams raced to pull survivors from the wreckage.

“People are currently trying to get out of the rubble of an ordinary residential building. It is not clear how many there are,” he said.

According to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, the nearly nine-hour-long barrage—one of the longest of the war—targeted 27 locations across Kyiv, including civilian homes, a nursery school, and critical infrastructure.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who appeared in a Telegram video holding what appeared to be a Russian cluster munition, said more than 100 people required medical attention, with 68 hospitalized.

“This was one of the most terrible strikes on Kyiv,” Zelensky declared. “Russia launched 440 drones and 32 missiles across Ukraine overnight.”

A massive portion of the apartment tower was torn away by what officials said was an Iranian-made Shahed drone, leaving behind mangled debris, splintered concrete, and a yawning void in the structure.

The U.S. citizen who died in the attack has not been publicly identified. His death marks a rare American fatality in the conflict and underscores the indiscriminate nature of the strikes.

The strikes also come amid political fallout in Washington. Reports emerged Tuesday that the Trump administration had quietly disbanded a high-level interagency group formed to pressure Russia into peace negotiations.

According to Reuters, the effort collapsed after it became clear that Donald Trump was unwilling to pursue a harder stance against Moscow.

Meanwhile, international outrage is growing. The use of kamikaze drones on residential buildings is being described by Ukrainian officials as a deliberate act of terror aimed at breaking civilian morale.

Standing near the site of the devastation, Klitschko said: “There is no exact information yet about those still buried. Rescuers are working tirelessly on the ground.”

As the war enters its fourth year, the scale and intensity of Russian attacks show no signs of abating—leaving Ukrainian cities like Kyiv to brace for what many fear may be an even more brutal chapter ahead.