Escalating Air Strikes: Russia Targets Ukraine's Heart

Tue Sep 23 2025 15:17:54 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Recent Russian air strikes have intensified across Ukraine, with increased casualties and significant damage to key infrastructures, including a government building in Kyiv. As calls for sanctions grow louder, the conflict sees a deeper shift in military tactics and international response.

In a recent surge of attacks, Russia has escalated its aerial assault on Ukraine, striking key locations like a government building in Kyiv with Iskander cruise missiles and resulting in civilian casualties across various regions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemns these actions, urging for stronger international sanctions against Russia. As the conflict evolves, the Ukrainian defense is increasingly challenged by sophisticated Russian military tactics and the pressing need for advanced air defense systems echoes among leaders.

Ukraine has shown reporters fragments of the missile it says hit a key government building in Kyiv this weekend, identifying it as a Russian Iskander cruise missile. Officials here now believe the building was struck deliberately in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Vladimir Putin's response to Donald Trump's peace efforts has been a clear escalation in Russian attacks. But they don't only target the Ukrainian capital. In the eastern Donbas region, more than 20 civilians were killed by a Russian glide bomb on Tuesday as they queued to collect their pensions.

Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strike on the village of Yarova as savage and called once again on Ukraine's allies to increase the pressure on Moscow through sanctions. His office said some US and European weapons components are still reaching Russia, including for the Iskander missile. Moscow has already substituted the rest with its own production.

Strong actions are needed to make Russia stop bringing death, Ukraine's president wrote.

Our team was filming on Sunday morning during the air raid on central Kyiv and captured the moment the cabinet of ministers was hit. The images appear to show a direct strike: a missile suddenly arcs downwards, right before the explosion.

The missile - packed with more than 100kg (220lb) of explosives - did not detonate, so the damage is limited to three floors. But it's still significant. We saw fragments of that missile, being collected as evidence: mangled metal pieces, some with Cyrillic lettering on them, gathered in a heap.

Weapons experts consulted agree that it looks like a Russian cruise missile and say the damage is consistent with an Iskander striking but not exploding. The increase in early morning attacks is obvious: they've grown more frequent - but most importantly they're bigger in scale. Russia now launches hundreds of drones at a time, deliberately draining Ukraine's resources.

As for the tactics, deadly glide bombs arrive almost without warning. In Yarova, the casualties are primarily elderly individuals, those least able to evacuate their homes as the fighting draws closer. The village, previously occupied by Russian forces, is now witnessing its residents face new threats from the air.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the strikes as barbaric and a stark crime against the very populations the Kremlin claimed it was protecting during the invasion.

Sooner than later, officials fear the unavoidable implications of the conflict could escalate unless more global pressure is applied on Russia's military tactics and defense industry.