After warning of conducting “systematic attacks” in response to Ukrainian strikes, Russia launched its seventh-largest attack since the invasion was launched in 2022, on Ukraine overnight, involving drones and ballistic missiles, killing at least 10 people and destroying residential buildings in multiple cities.
Ukraine’s military said more than 650 drones and around 70 missiles, including advanced hypersonic weapons, were launched overnight, with Kyiv being one of the primary targets. Officials said the majority of the incoming projectiles were intercepted, though several still struck residential and civilian infrastructure, Kyiv Independent reported.
Last night, Russian troops delivered a massive attack on Ukrainian defence plants with precision weapons, Russia’s Defence Ministry said as quoted by TASS.
“Last night, in response to the Kiev regime’s terrorist acts, the Russian Armed Forces launched a massive attack on defence industry plants in Kiev, Zaporozhye, Kharkov, and Dnepropetrovsk as well as in the Poltava, Khmelnitsky and Sumy Regions, including Ukrainian fuel and transport infrastructure supporting Ukrainian troops and military airfields, using high-precision long-range land-, air-, and sea-based weapons, hypersonic ballistic missiles, and assault unmanned aerial vehicles,” the ministry specified in a statement, adding that all designated targets were hit.
Moscow’s defence ministry said the strikes were retaliatory and claimed that all targets had been successfully hit.
In Kyiv, four people were killed and dozens were injured, with emergency services warning that some residents may still be trapped under the rubble of a partially collapsed apartment building in the Podilsky district following what officials described as a “double-tap” strike, as per reports.
Fires broke out across residential areas, a construction site, and near a petrol station, while reports of blackouts spread across parts of the capital.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the overnight bombardment as a “massive enemy attack,” urging residents to remain in shelters as explosions echoed across the city.
Six people were killed in Dnipro, where residential and commercial buildings were damaged, while nine others were killed in the central region, according to Ukrainian officials.
In Kharkiv, at least 10 people, including a child, were injured in separate strikes, and industrial facilities in Zaporizhzhia were also targeted.
Across Ukraine, more than 100 people were reported injured, with emergency crews continuing rescue operations in multiple regions. Air raid alerts were issued nationwide during the early hours of the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned ahead of the strikes that a “massive attack” was being prepared and urged citizens to remain alert. Following the assault, Ukrainian officials condemned Russia’s actions, calling its threats “shameless blackmail,” and called on international partners to increase pressure on Moscow, Euro news reported.
