Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults of the war overnight, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Kyiv, killing at least 21 people and injuring more than 90 in what Moscow described as retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia launched 496 drones and 74 missiles during the nearly 11-hour attack, damaging around 20 residential buildings and civilian infrastructure across 30 locations in the capital.
Air raid sirens sent more than 50,000 residents into Kyiv’s subway stations for shelter as powerful explosions shook the city through the night. Emergency crews continued searching collapsed apartment buildings for survivors after daybreak.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said more than 90 people were injured, while city military administration head Tymur Tkachenko confirmed at least 21 deaths. Separate Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region killed a seven-year-old girl and injured four members of the same family.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the strikes targeted military-related facilities, weapons factories, energy infrastructure and airfields, calling the attack a “massive retaliatory strike” following Ukraine’s long-range attacks on Russian territory.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the operation was directed exclusively at military or military-linked targets. However, Ukrainian officials reported extensive damage to residential neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the assault as a “night of horror” and rejected Moscow’s justification, saying Russia remained the aggressor in the conflict.
The latest bombardment comes as Ukraine has intensified long-range drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and energy facilities in recent weeks. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the campaign as a sustained effort to pressure Moscow into negotiations by disrupting fuel supplies and logistics.
Ukraine’s military said it struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries in the Nizhny Novgorod region overnight, igniting a fire, and also targeted a railway bridge in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region that was being used to transport troops and military equipment.
Despite renewed diplomatic efforts led by the United States, negotiations to end the conflict have made little progress. U.S. President Donald Trump and President Zelenskyy are expected to attend next week’s NATO summit in Türkiye, where the war is expected to dominate discussions.
Military analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to believe time is working in Moscow’s favour, expecting Western support for Ukraine to weaken while sustained air attacks gradually erode Ukraine’s resistance.
Ukraine has repeatedly appealed to its allies for additional Patriot air defence systems, arguing they remain the country’s most effective protection against Russia’s increasingly frequent ballistic missile attacks.
