Kyiv: Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, bombarding Kyiv with drones and missiles for nearly 11 hours overnight into Thursday. The attack killed at least 21 civilians and injured more than 90 others, according to Ukrainian emergency authorities, as Moscow described the strikes as retaliation for Ukraine’s recent attacks on Russian oil infrastructure.
Powerful explosions echoed across the Ukrainian capital throughout the night, forcing more than 50,000 residents to seek shelter in subway stations after air raid sirens sounded across the city. Emergency teams worked throughout the day to search collapsed apartment buildings for survivors and victims.
Ukrainian authorities reported damage at more than 30 locations across Kyiv, including around 20 residential buildings. In the Desnianskyi district, residents became trapped inside a damaged nine-storey apartment block, while in the Darnytskyi district, a large section of another residential building collapsed following the bombardment.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched a total of 74 missiles and 496 drones, making it one of the heaviest combined aerial attacks of the war. While Ukrainian air defence systems intercepted many of the incoming threats, officials acknowledged that ballistic missiles remain significantly more difficult to stop than drones.
In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, a separate Russian strike killed a seven-year-old girl and injured four members of the same family, including an 11-year-old child, regional officials said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry stated that the operation targeted military infrastructure, weapons production facilities, energy installations and military airfields across Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov maintained that the strikes were directed “exclusively against military or military-linked targets.”
However, Ukrainian officials rejected the claim, pointing to widespread destruction in residential neighbourhoods and civilian casualties. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the bombardment as a “night of horror” for Kyiv’s residents.
The latest escalation comes after Ukraine significantly expanded its long-range drone campaign inside Russian territory. Ukrainian forces have increasingly targeted oil refineries, fuel depots and military logistics hubs, actions that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described as part of a sustained offensive aimed at weakening Russia’s war capabilities.
According to Ukrainian military officials, overnight operations also struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries in the Nizhny Novgorod region, triggering a fire. Ukrainian forces additionally claimed to have damaged a railway bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, a key supply route used by Russian troops for transporting personnel, weapons and military equipment.
Analysts say Ukraine’s rapid advances in drone technology have enabled increasingly effective strikes deep inside Russian-held territory, particularly against supply lines supporting operations in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. These attacks have reportedly disrupted fuel supplies and increased logistical pressure on Russian forces.
Despite the intensifying military exchanges, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have shown little progress. Russia continues to maintain military pressure, while Ukraine insists that sustained strikes on Russian logistics are intended to force Moscow toward meaningful negotiations.
The war, now more than four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, continues to exact a heavy human toll. According to the United Nations, more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the conflict began, while estimates of military casualties on both sides run into the hundreds of thousands.