Emergency workers inspect a damaged car Friday close to a multi-story residential building that was bombed by a Russian missile on Thursday night, killing 31 civilians, including five children, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP photo)

KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian capital Kyiv observed an official day of mourning Friday, a day after a Russian drone and missile attack on the city killed 31 people, including five children, and injured more than 150, officials said.

The youngest victim in Thursday’s strikes was 2 years old, and 16 of the injured were children, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

It was the highest number of children killed and injured in a single attack on Kyiv since aerial attacks on the city began in October 2022, according to official casualty figures reported by The Associated Press. It was also the deadliest attack on the city since July last year, when 33 were killed.

The death toll rose overnight as emergency crews continued to dig through rubble. The Russian barrage demolished a large part of a nine-story residential building in the city, while more than 100 other buildings were damaged, including homes, schools, kindergartens, medical facilities and universities, officials said.

Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months, ignoring calls from Western leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump to stop striking civilian areas after more than three years of war. The Russian tactic aims to spread terror and wear down public appetite for the war.

Russian forces are also pressing on with their grinding war of attrition along the 620-mile front line, where incremental gains over the past year have come at the cost of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

Ukraine wants more sanctions

Zelenskyy said that in July, Russia launched over 5,100 glide bombs, more than 3,800 Shahed drones, and nearly 260 missiles of various types, 128 of them ballistic, against Ukraine.

He repeated his appeal for countries to impose heavier economic sanctions on Russia to deter the Kremlin, as U.S.-led peace efforts have failed to gain traction.

“No matter how much the Kremlin denies (sanctions’) effectiveness, they are working and must be stronger,” Zelenskyy said.

His comments Friday appeared to be a response to Trump’s remarks the previous day, when the Republican president said the U.S. plans to impose sanctions on Russia but added, “I don’t know that sanctions bother him,” in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In April, Trump urged the Russian leader to “STOP!” after an aerial attack on Kyiv killed 12 in what was the deadliest assault on the city since July 2024. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform at the time, but Russia hasn’t eased up on its barrages. Earlier this week, Trump gave Putin until Aug. 8 to stop the fighting.

Those demands haven’t persuaded the Kremlin to change strategy. Putin said Friday the conditions that Moscow set out last year for a long-term ceasefire agreement still stand. Putin has previously made it clear that he will only accept a settlement on his terms and will keep fighting until they’re met.

Russian forces bear down on a key eastern Ukrainian city

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are under heavy pressure in the strategic hilltop city of Chasiv Yar, in the eastern Donetsk region where Russia is making a concerted push to break through defenses after some 18 months of fighting.

Zelenskyy said that Russian claims of capturing Chasiv Yar on Thursday were “disinformation.”

“Ukrainian units are holding our positions,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Thursday evening. “It is not easy, but it is the defense of Ukrainians’ very right to life.”

Even so, the Institute for the Study of War said that Ukraine’s hold on the key city is weakening.

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Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine