Russia hits Kyiv with drones and ballistic missiles

Russia targeted Ukraine's capital with a mass drone and missile attack early Thursday morning that killed at least one and injured 33 people, local authorities said.

Ukraine’s Air Force said its air defenses shot down or jammed 693 targets overnight, including 41 missiles and 652 drones of various types across the country. Fifteen missiles and 23 drones scored direct hits across 24 locations, the Air Force said. Debris from downed drones fell across an additional 18 locations.

The attack, in which Kyiv was the primary target, came hours after a rare daytime mass drone barrage Wednesday. Ukrainian officials said the attack was Russia's response to US President Donald Trump's rare trip to China to talk with its leader, Xi Jinping.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said ballistic and cruise missiles were used in the mass attack. "These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end,” he said, urging partners not to stay silent and calling for continued support for Ukraine’s air defenses. He said Russia has used more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian cities and communities since the start of Wednesday.

The attack struck civilian infrastructure and residential buildings across multiple cities, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said, with Kyiv enduring the heaviest losses.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court on Thursday ordered former presidential office head Andriy Yermak held in pretrial detention, with bail set at 140 million hryvnias ($3.2 million), according to the local news agency Interfax-Ukraine, in a corruption investigation that also implicates other officials in Zelensky’s inner circle.

A man clears broken glass at an apartment building that was damaged during a night of Russian missile and drone strikes outside Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday. Reuters

Damage was recorded across six districts of the capital, according to head of Kyiv's Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko. He warned Russia was attacking the city with ballistic missiles and drones.

The cities of Kremenchuk, Bila Tserkva, Kharkiv, Sumy and Odesa also were targeted in the attack, which involved both ballistic and cruise missiles, she said.

In the Darnytsia district of Kyiv, a multistory residential building partially collapsed, burying people under the rubble. At least 27 people were rescued from the rubble, according to Ukraine's Emergency Service.

Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 18 apartments were destroyed. He added that there were problems with water supply on the left bank of Kyiv as a result of the attack.

At the scene, emergency workers searched for survivors as smoke from the attack continued to smolder beneath the pile of rubble.

Resident Lyudmila Hlushko, 78, said she heard a lot of explosions and the sound of rockets flying around 3 a.m. "Then the house shook violently and there was a loud bang, breaking the glass in my house,” she said.

Emergency operations also were ongoing in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivskyi districts of Kyiv, the service said.

In the Dnieper district, a drone hit the roof of a five-story residential building, Tkachenko said. Another building in the Dniprovskyi district was also damaged.

The attack came hours after a rare daytime attack on Kyiv that killed at least six people, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The assault, which involved 800 drones, struck about 20 regions of Ukraine and was among the longest such attacks during the war.

Zelensky said the attack that lasted hours Wednesday aimed to cause as much "pain and grief” as possible.

The attack came after US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he believes Moscow and Kyiv will soon reach a deal to end fighting. Putin said in a speech last weekend that his invasion of Ukraine is possibly "coming to an end.”

Rescuers work at the site of an apartment building damaged during Russian missile and drone strikes in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday. Reuters

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha tied the overnight attack to Trump's meeting with Xi, saying Russia’s assault proved it posed a threat to international security.

"At the very time when leaders of the most powerful countries are meeting in Beijing, and the world hopes for peace, predictability and cooperation, Putin launched hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at the capital of Ukraine,” Sybiha said on Telegram.

He said there should be "no illusions” about ending the war. "Only pressure on Moscow can make him stop,” Sybiha said of Putin, adding that U.S. and Chinese leaders had sufficient leverage to compel Russia to end the war.

Neither Putin or Trump have provided details about what has changed to make a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine conflict possible.

Moscow and Kyiv maintain mutually exclusive demands. US-led diplomatic efforts over the past year to end the war have fizzled after making no progress on key issues, such as whether Russia gets to keep Ukrainian land it has seized and what can be done to deter Moscow from invading again.

Associated Press