Fresh wave of Russian overnight airstrikes targeting Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and its surrounding areas has left at least 12 civilians and infrastructure workers dead, with another 17 people wounded—including two minors, local Ukrainian authorities confirmed Monday. The deadly attack is the second major escalation against the Kyiv region in less than a week, coming on the heels of a previous strike that claimed 38 lives last Friday.
Among the fatalities recorded in Kyiv proper, six were employees of Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s state-owned railway operator, who were at a city rail depot when it sustained a direct hit. Four additional deaths were recorded in Boryspil, a major town located just outside Kyiv that is home to one of the country’s busiest international airports. Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, confirmed that the strikes damaged multiple civilian sites and residential buildings, igniting large blazes that spread across three of the capital’s administrative districts. Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the fires, extract survivors from rubble, and provide urgent medical care to the injured.
In an official statement following the attack, Russia’s ministry of defense claimed the operation was a “massive strike” deployed with advanced high-precision weapons, and that targets were limited to Ukraine’s military-industrial complexes and fuel-energy infrastructure. However, the attack’s impact has fallen heavily on non-military sites and workers, contradicting Russia’s stated targeting parameters.
Friday’s prior strike in the Kyiv region hit a Ukrainian weapons depot, triggering a series of secondary detonations from stored shells, mines, and unmanned aerial vehicles that drove the death toll to 38. The repeated attacks on the Kyiv area are part of Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022 and has entered its fifth year of active conflict.