Thirteen people including three children have been killed and dozens more wounded in a heavy overnight Russian bombardment of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials say.

Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration said more than 20 locations had been hit in districts across the capital.

The Kremlin had chosen “ballistics instead of the negotiating table”, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, who reiterated the need for “new, tough sanctions” on Russia.

Ukrainian forces said Russia had fired almost 600 drones and more than 30 ballistic and cruise missiles – the biggest attack on the capital this month.

The wave of missiles came after more than 100,000 Ukrainian homes were left without power by Russian drone attacks on energy infrastructure on Wednesday.

Tymur Tkachenko said one of the children killed was a 14-year-old girl. At least five other children were wounded in the latest strikes which hit ordinary residential buildings, he said on Telegram.

Many buildings including a kindergarten had caught fire, he added.

The mayor of Kyiv said a five-storey building was destroyed and rescue services were searching the rubble.

The headquarters of the European Union delegation in Kyiv was also damaged, and European Council President António Costa said he was “horrified” by the latest Russian attacks.

Three and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, fighting on the ground shows no sign of abating.

Zelensky said the attack on Ukraine’s cities and communities was a clear response from the Kremlin to everyone who had called for weeks and months “for a ceasefire and for real diplomacy”.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X that “while the world seeks a path to peace, Russia responds with missiles” and had made a “deliberate choice to escalate”.

US President Donald Trump had hoped to organise a summit involving Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the war, but those efforts have so far failed.

He first met Putin in Alaska before holding talks with Zelensky and European leaders in Washington.

Ukraine’s president has backed the move, but the Kremlin has played down any chance of a Putin-Zelensky summit.

Ukraine is working with its European allies on security guarantees to prevent any future Russian attack in the event of a peace deal, while Russia says it will not accept European troops on the ground and says discussing them without Moscow’s involvement is a “road to nowhere”.

On Tuesday, Zelensky met the head of Britain’s armed forces, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, in Kyiv, where they discussed efforts to end the war.

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has said he would meet Ukrainian representatives in New York this week, telling Fox News “we talk to the Russians every day”.