10 days · 6 summary articles
Seven people have died in Berlin after a drone strike on a residential block in the eastern district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf, the city’s government confirmed on Thursday. The attack, which occurred on 16 June 2026, left a ten-storey building uninhabitable and forced the evacuation of 87 residents, including 23 children. The drone, identified by German military intelligence as a Russian-made model, crashed into the ninth floor, triggering a fire that spread to adjacent apartments. Firefighters from four districts battled the blaze for more than six hours before it was brought under control.
Berlin’s Senate crisis team met late on Wednesday to coordinate the response, but the scale of the disaster has exposed deep divisions over civil-protection funding. District mayors from Marzahn-Hellersdorf and Lichtenberg told reporters on Thursday that the Senate had failed to provide promised financial support for emergency shelters and decontamination teams. “We are now cleaning only schools because we have no other public buildings left,” said District Mayor Falko Liecke . The Senate’s interior senator, Iris Spranger, acknowledged “serious shortcomings” in the city’s disaster plan but insisted that a full review would begin within 48 hours.
The federal government has pledged €12 million in immediate aid, while the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism activated on Wednesday night, dispatching a team of structural engineers and hazardous-materials specialists. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to visit the site on Friday morning. Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in Berlin has not responded to requests for comment, and the Foreign Office has summoned the ambassador for an explanation.
Across the city, residents near the blast zone have formed self-organised patrols to deter looting, while local charities report a surge in donations of food, clothing and baby supplies. The Berlin fire brigade confirmed that three of the seven fatalities were children under the age of ten. The building’s owner, a Berlin-based property group, has offered temporary accommodation in nearby hotels, but many families say they will refuse to return to the district until the rubble is cleared and the site declared safe.