Russia launches one of largest aerial assaults on Kyiv, killing 4, wounding dozens

Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults on Kyiv of the war overnight into Sunday, striking the Ukrainian capital with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles that damaged residential buildings, schools, businesses, and markets across nearly every district, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday. 

According to local officials, four people were killed in the attacks. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 56 others were injured, with 30 of those hospitalized. Some damage was reported in the city's historic Independence Square.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least 83 people had been confirmed injured since midnight and that there were fatalities. "It was a heavy attack - 90 missiles of various types, many of them ballistic missiles - 36 in total. There were 600 drones," he said, adding that not all the ballistic missiles had been intercepted and that Kyiv was the primary target of the assault.

Zelensky said the strikes had hit a water supply facility, burned down a market, damaged dozens of residential buildings, and struck several schools. He said Russia had launched its "Oreshnik" missile against the city of Bila Tserkva, south of Kyiv. In characteristically pointed language, Zelensky mocked Putin, saying the Russian leader "can't even pronounce the word 'hurrah' clearly anymore" yet "is still vanquishing residential buildings with his missiles."

The strikes triggered fires and destruction across the city. Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported damage in numerous districts, including a fire at a dormitory in Darnytskyi, a school struck in Shevchenkivskyi, hits on residential towers, a shopping center, a supermarket, and warehouse facilities, and the destruction of a museum building in the Kyiv region. Among the sites hit was the Kvadrat shopping and entertainment center in the Lukianivka neighborhood, which sustained a direct hit and was engulfed in flames.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia had carried out "one of the largest terrorist attacks on Kyiv" using around 600 drones, dozens of ballistic, air-ballistic, and cruise missiles, and a dummy intermediate-range missile. He said the Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, and Zhytomyr regions had also come under attack. 

"Unable to achieve any results on the battlefield, Putin turns to terror against civilians," Sybiha said, calling on Ukraine's allies to "double down, not back down" in their support.

Christopher Miller, a journalist with the Financial Times, said President Volodymyr Zelensky's office and Ukraine's Air Force had confirmed to him that Russia launched an "Oreshnik" intermediate-range ballistic missile overnight, a weapon capable of carrying multiple conventional or nuclear warheads.

The Oreshnik, whose name means "hazelnut tree" in Russian, was first used against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024 and again in the western Lviv region earlier this year. Putin has claimed the missile travels at more than 10 times the speed of sound and is impossible to intercept.

Ukraine's Chief Rabbi Moshe Azman drew attention to the civilian toll of the strikes, writing that those affected were "just ordinary civilians living in Kyiv... families with children."

The assault came after Zelensky warned on Saturday, citing Ukrainian, US, and European intelligence, that Russia was preparing a major combined strike using the Oreshnik. The warning followed Putin's order for his military to prepare retaliation options after a Ukrainian drone strike on a student dormitory in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region on Friday.