Kyiv woke to a nine-hour barrage that left 16 people dead, more than 40 injured and fresh questions over whether Ukraine has enough air-defence missiles to withstand Russia’s escalating attacks.
Russian strikes hit the Ukrainian capital and its surrounding region early this morning, damaging buildings and knocking out power in parts of the city.
One residential building trapped people inside and fires erupted in multiple locations, while non-residential facilities, warehouses and a children’s hospital were also struck, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Witnesses described hearing more than a dozen explosions.
The brunt of the fatalities in Kyiv fell on the Solomianskyi district, where the upper floors of a nine-storey apartment block were destroyed and 15 people were killed, Mr Klitschko said.
In the wider region around the capital, another person was killed, an official said separately in a Telegram post.
Footage released by Ukraine’s emergency service showed servicemen fighting a blaze in a building and helping people escape facilities wrecked during the night in Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the toll underscored the cost of delays in reinforcing Ukraine’s air defences.
“Unfortunately, while Moscow is investing in ballistic missiles and escalation, the world does not always respond appropriately to such attacks,” Mr Zelensky said.
Smoke rises from missiles launched by Russia, in Kyiv
The capital had been bracing for an assault for several days, and officials said the overnight strike continued for nine hours.
“It was a massive attack – the Russians prepared for a long time and combined various types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones,” Mr Zelensky said.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched dozens of ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles, along with 168 drones, in the large-scale overnight operation.
Russia and Ukraine have traded near-daily attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while diplomatic efforts involving the United States and Europe have so far failed to secure a lasting ceasefire.
In neighbouring Poland — a NATO and European Union member that borders Ukraine — the military said it had begun defensive air operations to protect its airspace, according to a post on X.
Romania’s defence ministry said its radar detected aerial targets near the Ukrainian border overnight, leading to the launch of two Spanish fighter jets deployed on NATO missions and a Romanian air force helicopter.
The ministry said a drone entered Romanian airspace near Galati before crashing in an unpopulated area in the country’s Tulcea county.
Read more:
Latest Ukraine stories
Russia, meanwhile, said it faced a significant Ukrainian drone operation of its own.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 250 drones headed toward the Moscow region between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, with most destroyed at a significant distance from the capital.
Mr Zelensky said this month that Ukraine had provided proposals to US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for a plan to end the war. He has also repeatedly appealed for interceptor missiles to help defend against missile strikes.
Russia had not received specific proposals for possible new meetings with the US negotiators, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, told the Izvestia newspaper, but said Moscow would be ready to arrange a meeting at short notice.
Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner last visited Moscow in January and have not yet travelled to Kyiv.
