At least seven people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed and 59 others injured in a series of Russian drone attacks on Kyiv on Friday, Ukrainian authorities said, as repeated waves of strikes hit residential, commercial and administrative buildings across the capital.

The attacks continued from the early hours into the afternoon, triggering repeated air raid alerts and fires in several districts of the city.

A Russian drone struck a 16-story residential building in Kyiv's central Pecherskyi district overnight, hitting between the 10th and 11th floors and killing the 14-year-old boy, Ukraine's National Police said. At least seven other people were initially reported injured in the strike.

The boy was an Israeli citizen, according to Israel's Foreign Ministry in Ukraine. His mother was also injured in the attack.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 25 people, including two children, had been hospitalized following the overnight attacks.

The strikes came after air raid warnings were issued in the early morning as Ukrainian authorities warned residents of incoming missiles and drones.

The attacks continued after sunrise, with another series of explosions reported across the capital.

A drone struck a five-story non-residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, while other strikes and falling debris damaged buildings in the Podilskyi and Solomianskyi districts, according to Klitschko.

During the daytime attack, a drone hit an office building in Solomianskyi district, killing four people and injuring seven others, including a child, preliminary reports said.

A medical facility in the same district was also damaged, with three people, including a child, hospitalized after being injured nearby.

By mid-afternoon, Kyiv had been placed under an air raid alert for the seventh time since the beginning of the day.

The repeated attacks forced residents to seek shelter while emergency crews worked to extinguish fires and search damaged buildings.

Residents of the damaged apartment building in Pecherskyi district described the strike as particularly shocking because the area had previously appeared relatively safe.

Yana, a real estate agent living in Kyiv, told the Kyiv Independent that she woke to an explosion and immediately moved into a hallway with her dog.

Ivan, a retired resident of the damaged building, said he initially believed the explosion had occurred elsewhere.

He said residents had become accustomed to seeing missiles and Shahed-type drones over the city but had not expected their own building to be struck.

The attacks have added to growing concerns among Kyiv residents as Russia has intensified its use of drones against the Ukrainian capital.

The latest assault came amid a broader increase in Russian drone attacks against Ukraine.

Reuters reported earlier this week that Russia has increasingly deployed jet-powered versions of Shahed-type drones, placing additional pressure on Ukraine's air-defense network. Ukrainian officials have said the faster drones are more difficult for mobile air-defense units to intercept.

The Kyiv attacks also followed a major Russian overnight assault on Sept. 24, when ballistic missiles struck the capital, killing two people and injuring eight, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Ukraine has faced increasingly frequent waves of Russian drones and missiles throughout September, with attacks extending beyond military targets to infrastructure, industrial facilities and urban areas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed condolences to the families of those killed and injured.

Zelensky said the latest attacks also damaged a warehouse used by McDonald's in Brovary, a city in Kyiv Oblast.

“The Russians are constantly expanding their escalation operation,” Zelensky said in a post on X, arguing that businesses, data centers and internet providers were increasingly being affected by the attacks.

He said such strikes were disrupting ordinary life and undermining people's ability to communicate, study and work.

The latest attacks came as both sides continued to carry out long-range strikes against targets deep behind the front line.

Ukrainian forces were also reported to have struck a Russian oil refinery in Perm and an electronics factory in Ulyanovsk on Friday, although details of the reported attacks were still emerging.

Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of conducting drone attacks against targets inside Russian territory, while Kyiv says its strikes are aimed at weakening Russia's military and economic capacity to sustain the war.

The escalation comes despite continuing international diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

For Kyiv residents, however, Friday's attacks brought another day of repeated air raid warnings, damaged homes and businesses, and mounting civilian casualties in the Ukrainian capital. (ILKHA)