This handout picture taken and release on Aug. 28, 2025 by the European Union delegation in Ukraine shows damages in the EU offices in Kyiv after a Russian missile and drone attack on apartment blocks, which also hit the EU mission's building in the Ukrainian capital. (Credit: Handout/AFP)
Russia's overnight drone and missile attack on Ukraine's capital damaged the EU delegation's building in the city, the EU Commission said on Thursday.
The delegation's staff were safe, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. She called on Russia to stop its "indiscriminatory attacks on civilian infrastructure and join negotiations for a just and lasting peace".
At least 23 people, including four children, were killed and dozens more wounded in the bombardment, the BBC said, citing Ukrainian officials.
EU Commissioner Marta Kos said the EU building had been damaged during strikes on civilian areas.
"I strongly condemn these brutal attacks, a clear sign that Russia rejects peace and chooses terror. Our full solidarity goes to EU staff, their families, and all Ukrainians enduring this aggression."
Putin must come to negotiating table
Russian President Vladimir Putin must sit down for peace talks on Ukraine, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday after calls with U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.
Von der Leyen's demand comes as the Kremlin continues to stall on Trump's push to set up direct talks between Putin and Zelensky to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Just spoke with President Zelensky, then President Trump, following the massive strike on Kyiv, which also hit our EU offices. Putin must come to the negotiating table," European Commission head von der Leyen wrote on X.
"We must secure a just and lasting peace for Ukraine with firm and credible security guarantees that will turn the country into a steel porcupine," she added.
EU responds, none of its staff harmed
The EU summoned Moscow's envoy in Brussels on Thursday after a massive attack. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced on X that the bloc was "summoning the Russian envoy in Brussels," warning: "No diplomatic mission should ever be a target."
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen addressed the press in Brussels following the strike, calling it proof "the Kremlin will stop at nothing" and vowing to uphold "maximum pressure" on Russia.
The overnight drone and missile strike "was an attack also on our delegation," the European Commission president said.
"It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine, blindly killing civilians, men, women and children, and even targeting the European Union," she told reporters.
Von der Leyen said she had spoken with the EU's deputy ambassador on site and was "relieved that none of our staff were harmed."
But she said the attack struck in "close proximity" to the bloc's diplomatic mission, two missiles hitting within 50 meters of the delegation in the space of 20 seconds.
EU officials shared a picture of the inside of an office with the windows blown out, the ceiling partially hanging down, and debris scattered on the floor, as well as an aerial view showing an obliterated building in the vicinity.
Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper told reporters the EU delegation was still "fully operational" and that "our staff will remain present in the country."
But von der Leyen said the damage was "another grim reminder" of the need to keep "maximum pressure on Russia."
"That means tightening our sanctions regime" with a 19th package of measures against Moscow, and "advancing" work on how best to exploit hundreds of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, she said.
EU countries are currently using interest earned from the assets to help arm Ukraine and finance its post-war reconstruction, a windfall worth between 2.5 billion euros and 3 billion euros a year.
Von der Leyen also announced she would be travelling from Friday to seven countries on the EU's eastern flank, "that are strengthening and protecting our external borders, with Russia and Belarus."
