In a devastating escalation of hostilities that followed a pre-emptive warning from Ukrainian leadership, Russian forces unleashed a massive combined drone and missile assault on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight, leaving at least 13 people dead and dozens more injured.
The attack came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued an urgent alert that Russia was gearing up for a “massive” strike, prompting widespread precaution across the capital. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, confirmed that children were among the casualties, calling out Russian forces for deliberately targeting populated civilian areas. “The enemy is once again deliberately targeting residential areas and killing civilians,” Tkachenko stated early Thursday.
According to Ukraine’s air force, the assault included 74 missiles and 496 drones, with the vast majority of the ordinance directed at Kyiv. While Ukrainian air defense systems successfully intercepted and shot down most of the incoming weapons, 25 ballistic missiles and 12 drones penetrated the defensive layer, striking 33 separate locations across the city.
On-the-ground reporting from a BBC team in Kyiv documented non-stop explosions throughout the night. By 3:30 a.m. local time, 10 major blasts had been confirmed, with a large blaze raging in the city center and multiple smaller fires visible in outlying districts. Tracer rounds from air defense units lit up the night sky repeatedly, each followed by the thunder of exploding ordinance.
Daylight on Thursday revealed the full scope of the damage: a deep crater left by a direct impact, smoldering destroyed vehicles, collapsed building facades, and scattered debris across residential neighborhoods. Multiple fires broke out across the city, with critical damage recorded at a local ambulance station that left one person in critical condition. Firefighters worked through the night to contain a large fire that destroyed a hotel on one of Kyiv’s central boulevards.
Ukraine’s state emergency service confirmed the death toll of 13, with more than 30 additional people injured. So far, 34 people have been pulled from the rubble of damaged structures, with search and rescue operations ongoing at multiple hit sites, including a high-rise apartment building and residential homes in southeastern Kyiv. As emergency services continue to battle remaining blazes and recover victims, thousands of Kyiv residents spent the night sheltering in underground metro stations when air raid sirens sounded across the city.
Ukrainian officials have issued an urgent appeal to international allies for greater support. Foreign Ministry official Andriy Sybiha called on partner nations to supply additional air defense systems, noting that Ukraine requires more than just verbal condemnation of the attack. “We need not only words of condemnation but concrete action to stop Russian terror,” Sybiha said, also calling for expanded international sanctions against Russia. Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, described the attack in a social media post: “Another horrific night for the residents of the city, who were forced to spend it in shelters. Fires and the destruction of civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in several districts of the city.”
This strike marks the first large-scale combined missile and drone assault on Ukraine by Russia in more than two weeks. Russia’s Ministry of Defense has justified the attack, claiming it targeted energy and defense infrastructure in retaliation for recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian power facilities stretching from Moscow to the Black Sea. Russian media reported that the attack also hit Ukrainian military bases in central and eastern Ukraine. Notably, the strikes came after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare admission that his country is facing widespread fuel shortages.
Zelensky, who cut short an official visit to Dublin after receiving intelligence of the planned assault, urged Ukrainian civilians to remain vigilant. “I urge our people to be especially careful, to protect themselves, their children, and, of course, their families,” he said, adding that Putin had been preparing the massive strike for some time.
The overnight attack comes amid shifting momentum on the ground. Russian forces recently advanced into Kostyantynivka, one of Ukraine’s last remaining strongholds in the eastern Donbas region; a full Russian capture of the city would open a pathway for Moscow to seize control of the entire Donbas. On the other hand, Ukrainian commanders report that their forces have recaptured more territory in 2025 than they have lost, and have successfully disrupted critical Russian supply lines connecting the Russian border to occupied Crimea. The broader ground war has remained largely deadlocked for months, with both sides’ troops entrenched in fixed positions. Currently, Russia occupies roughly one-fifth of Ukraine’s total territory, most of which was seized in the opening months of the full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.