Russia carried out its largest air attack against Ukraine, killing at least two people and setting fire to the Ukrainian government building in Kyiv, authorities reported.

A journalist witnessed the roof of the Cabinet of Ministers engulfed in flames, with smoke rising over the capital. Drone strikes also damaged several high-rise buildings in the city, according to rescue services.

The attack comes amid U.S. efforts for a peaceful agreement and after several European countries, led by France and the United Kingdom, pledged to send “monitoring” forces for a potential peace deal—a request Moscow deemed unacceptable.

The strike on the Cabinet of Ministers, a large government complex in central Kyiv, is the first of its kind during the war. Reporters saw helicopters dumping water on the roof as rescuers attempted to control the fire. Police cordoned off the area.

“The roof and upper floors were damaged in an enemy attack. Rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on Telegram. “We will rebuild the buildings, but we cannot bring back the lost lives. The enemy terrorizes and kills our people every day across the country.”

The Ukrainian army reported that Russia launched at least 805 drones and 13 missiles, setting a new record. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that rescue services are working nationwide. “These killings now, when real diplomacy could have started long ago, are deliberate crimes and a continuation of the war,” he wrote on Facebook.

A strike on a nine-story residential building in western Kyiv killed at least two people—a mother and her two-month-old baby—prosecutors said. Over a dozen others were injured. Photos released by rescue services showed the building engulfed in flames and smoke emerging from the facade.

A separate strike with a guided weapon in the southern Zaporizhzhia region also killed a married couple, Governor Ivan Fedorov reported.

The attack follows pledges by more than two dozen European countries to patrol any peace agreement, with some prepared to deploy troops on the ground. Kyiv emphasizes that security guarantees backed by Western forces are crucial for any peace deal to prevent future Russian invasions.

However, President Vladimir Putin stated that the presence of Western forces in Ukraine is unacceptable and that such forces would be a “legitimate target.”

Although Russia denies targeting civilians, it currently occupies around 20% of Ukraine’s territory. In three and a half years of war, tens of thousands have been killed, millions displaced, and eastern and southern regions heavily destroyed—the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. |BGNES