Two days under rubble: third victim of May 24 attack found in Shevchenko district
Rescuers have completed the debris removal at a five-story building in Kyiv's Shevchenko district and discovered remains of a woman who was believed to be missing. The death toll from the May 24 strike has reached three, with all victims found in the same building.
By Tetiana Suchkova-Ladik
May 26, 2026 · 2 min read
The search and rescue operation in a destroyed five-story building in Shevchenko district of Kyiv lasted continuously for two days. The result was the worst possible: rescuers discovered fragments of the body of the third victim of the May 24 attack. According to the capital's police, the discovery likely belongs to a resident of the building who was previously considered missing.
The first two deceased — women aged 86 and 44 — were recovered early Sunday morning. According to the Office of the General Prosecutor, identification of the third remains will be conducted through DNA analysis.
"During emergency and rescue operations, fragments of a human body were found, which may likely belong to a resident of the partially destroyed building in Shevchenko district. The woman is considered missing. DNA analysis will be assigned for final identification."
— capital police
A strike that damaged the entire city at once
On the night of May 24, Russia launched one of the largest combined strikes on Kyiv: 90 missiles and approximately 600 drones of various types, including "Oreshnik." Air Force destroyed most targets, but debris and direct hits were recorded in all ten districts of the capital.
Shevchenko district was affected by missile fragments that fell on a 24-story building and a five-story building. Podil, Dniprovsky, and other districts sustained damage to residential and civilian facilities. According to the State Emergency Service, damage was recorded at 49 locations in the city.
Damaged facilities include the Foreign Ministry building, the National Art Museum, Kyiv Opera, universities, churches, and architectural monuments. The Foreign Ministry building, constructed by Yosyp Langbard in 1939, suffered damage for the first time since World War II. Of more than 90 injured, 28 were hospitalized, including two children.
Three dead from one building
All three confirmed victims of the Kyiv attack are connected to a single address in Shevchenko district. This is not a random scatter of debris — this is one direct hit on a residential building that killed residents in their apartments. The rescue operation that lasted two days without interruption changed the status of one person: from "missing" — to victim.
This transition is a technical detail for statistics, but a specific person for those who were waiting for her. According to the State Emergency Service rescuers, emergency recovery work at the location has been completed.
If Russia continues to use strikes of this scale — 90 missiles and 600 drones simultaneously — the question is no longer whether Kyiv's air defense can withstand the load, but how many times it can do this without critical losses in interception.
