BREAKING: Russia strikes EU delegation building in Kyiv

 

Russia strikes EU delegation building in Kyiv

 

The building was “severely damaged,” EU Ambassador Katarina Mathernova said, while Ukraine’s foreign minister accused the Kremlin of targeting diplomats.

 

August 28, 2025 9:01 am CET

By Zoya Sheftalovich

https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-strikes-eu-delegation-building-in-kyiv/

 

Russia struck a building housing the EU’s delegation to Kyiv Thursday morning, causing significant damage.

 

The EU’s Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova said the building was “severely damaged by the shock wave” of the “massive” barrage of drone and ballistic missile strikes Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, in which she said at least 10 people had been killed and 30 injured.

 

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia’s attack “targeted diplomats—in direct breach of the Vienna convention.”

 

The EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said Russia’s overnight attack was “a deliberate choice to escalate and mock the peace efforts.”

 

The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as he seeks to forge a peace deal to end the war.

 

Ukraine has made Western-backed security guarantees a central demand in any settlement to prevent further Russian attacks. After the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some of his key European backers gathered in the White House on Aug. 18, Trump’s administration has signaled it would support a European-led force helping guarantee Ukrainian security, providing intelligence assets and battlefield oversight and taking part in an air defense shield.

 

But while Trump said after the two summits that he would soon convene a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy, and that the Russian had agreed to the idea, Kremlin watchers have cast doubt on Putin’s intentions.

 

The Russian president has prevaricated, dragging his heels on any direct meeting with Zelenskyy and on peace negotiations.

 

Moscow has doubled down on its asks, including demanding that Kyiv cede the entire Donbas region, including key strategic strongholds that Russia does not control. Zelenskyy has ruled that out, saying doing so would provide Putin a springboard for a future invasion.

 

On Thursday, European Council President António Costa said the damage to the EU delegation building in Kyiv was “deliberate,” adding that he was “horrified” by the Russian attacks.

 

But, he said, “The EU will not be intimidated. Russia’s aggression only strengthens our resolve to stand with Ukraine and its people.”

 

“I strongly condemn these brutal attacks, a clear sign that Russia rejects peace & chooses terror,” the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said in a statement on social media.

 

“Our full solidarity goes to EU staff, their families, & all Ukrainians enduring this aggression,” she continued.

 

This is a developing story.