KYIV: A massive Russian air assault swept across Ukraine last night, sending waves of drones and missiles that battered Kyiv and several other cities for more than ten hours.
Ukrainian officials said the coordinated strikes, launched from heavy bombers and ground-based platforms, killed at least four people—including a 12-year-old girl in the capital—and left dozens more injured while damaging homes, schools, and medical facilities.
Ukrainian military commanders reported that nearly 600 drones and close to 50 missiles were launched in the overnight attack. Air defense crews shot down the vast majority—more than 560 drones and 43 missiles—yet enough made it through to cause destruction on the ground.
A cardiology clinic and a kindergarten in Kyiv were among the buildings struck, while Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Odesa, and Khmelnytskyi also reported damage from falling debris or direct hits. In Zaporizhzhia, a high-rise apartment building was hit, wounding at least 16 people, including children.
Ukrainian officials said more than 1,500 emergency workers and police officers were deployed across 11 regions in the aftermath of the overnight strikes.
In Kyiv alone, about 500 rescuers and 1,000 police officers were working at blast sites. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported that four people were confirmed dead and more than 70 were injured in the capital.
At one impact site, members of the State Emergency Service’s new “Delta” rapid-response unit pulled three people alive from the rubble while warning that others could still be trapped. More than 60 investigative teams have fanned out across the city to document damage and collect statements from residents as rescue operations continue.
The assault combined low-cost attack drones with long-range cruise missiles fired from Russia’s strategic bombers, a tactic not used at this scale in months. Ukrainian officials said Tu-95, Tu-22M, and Tu-160 bombers launched salvos from deep inside Russian territory, coordinating with the drone swarms to stretch Ukraine’s air defenses.
The return of these heavy bombers signals a possible change in Russian strategy: an attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and inflict deeper damage on civilian infrastructure. Moscow appears willing to accept greater risk to its own aircraft to demonstrate that it can still reach far into Ukraine despite previous Ukrainian strikes on Russian airbases.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said the attacks damaged a medical center and a kindergarten, calling the destruction “a renewed campaign of terror.” A city official lamented that “the Russians have restarted the child death counter.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the assault as “vile” and urged Western allies to tighten economic pressure on Russia and speed the delivery of advanced air defense systems.
The scale and timing of the bombardment underline the growing strain on Ukraine’s defenses. Each wave of missiles and drones forces the country to expend scarce interceptor missiles and coordinate its network of radar and electronic warfare units.
The renewed use of strategic bombers carries risks for Moscow as well. In recent months Ukraine has shown it can strike deep inside Russian territory, targeting the very bases that house those aircraft. But for the Kremlin, the potential impact of a dramatic show of force may outweigh the dangers.
