Twelve people were reported killed when a five-storey residential building in the eastern Darnytskyi district was struck in the middle of the night, said Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko.

The victims included three children aged two, 14 and 17, one of whom died at the scene and two others in hospital. Ten more people were missing at the site as searches continued, the minister added.

A 13th person died in Kyiv’s central Shevchenkivskyi district, where an attack damaged buildings and offices near the railway station, including those housing the EU delegation to Ukraine and the British Council. The council in Ukraine announced on social media that its office had been “severely damaged” and would be closed to visitors until further notice.

The location of the 14th fatality was not immediately known.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the onslaught showed that Russia had no intention of negotiating an end to the war.

“These Russian missiles and attack drones today are a clear response to everyone in the world who, for weeks and months, has been calling for a ceasefire and for real diplomacy,” the president wrote on social media.

“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” he added.

Aerial bombardment of Kyiv had been relatively muted during August, when Trump made a failed attempt to bring about an end to the war by meeting Putin in Alaska.

But the overnight attack indicated Russia was ready to return to its deadly campaign of bombing cities, even though Trump has previously complained about such attacks and threatened to impose sanctions on Russian oil if they continued.

The Kremlin announced on Thursday it was “still interested” in diplomacy but would continue to launch strikes on Ukraine

While some Western European leaders are contemplating the idea of dispatching thousands of soldiers to the country if the hostilities were to end, they have to “contend… with the inconvenient fact that many voters are opposed to any deployment that places troops in harm’s way,” the report says.

Unnamed European officials also told the WSJ that “it is difficult to secure public support without a clear US commitment to backstop any deployment.” US President Donald Trump has ruled out sending ground troops to Ukraine, but said Washington could provide other kinds of support.

Eastern European countries are generally cautious about shifting forces from their own borders, the WSJ noted, adding that opposition to troop deployment is particularly strong in Germany and Italy, where the historical memory of World War II still shapes public opinion.

In Germany, domestic opposition runs deep, spanning both right and left-wing parties; a recent Insa poll suggested that 56% there are opposed to sending troops to Ukraine.

France, one of the more vocal supporters of a potential European military force, has seen public opinion hinge on conditions. A March survey by Elabe found 67% supported sending troops if a peace accord is reached, but 68% opposed a deployment without one.

Meanwhile, the British public generally supports possible deployment, but several polls have indicated that it “wouldn’t want to provoke a direct confrontation with Russia,” the report says. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also stressed the need for a US security backstop if UK forces were deployed – something Washington has not committed to.

Russia has consistently opposed the idea of NATO countries sending in troops. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated the prospect of the bloc shifting its military infrastructure into Ukraine was “one of the root causes” of the conflict and has reiterated that Moscow views current discussions about deployments negatively.