Kyiv Rocked as Russia Launches Massive Overnight Missile and Drone Barrage

(Residential Building. Photo by The Times)

Russian missile and drone strikes tore open apartment buildings in Kyiv early on Thursday, k!lling at least 13 people and wounding dozens, hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a “massive att@ck”.

Russia has routinely launched waves of missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, during its more than four-year invasion, which has become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

AFP journalists in central and eastern Kyiv heard more than a dozen explosions and saw residents, some with children and pets, rushing to shelter in metro stations.

In the morning, locals stood on the rubble of destroyed apartment blocks, ripped open by the barrage, as smoke poured over the Kyiv skyline.

Blasts started echoing out over the Ukrainian capital late Wednesday, lasting into the early hours of Thursday as Russian missiles and drones rained down on residential areas in the centre of the city. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 13 people had been k!lled, with 86 wounded.

Kyiv has urged its allies to send more air defence. Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on social media that Ukraine’s partners should not delay decisions on air defence for the country, describing it as their main request after Kyiv suffered a night of horror.

Russia fired 496 drones and 74 missiles, including hard-to-intercept ballistic projectiles, Ukraine’s air force said, adding that it had shot down 48 of the missiles and 476 of the drones.

The att@ck came hours after Zelensky cut short a visit to Dublin on Wednesday, citing intelligence reports of an impending Russian strike.

Locals packed into underground metro stations or hunkered in basements and corridors to protect themselves from the barrage.

A 32-year-old doctor, Kateryna Kucheryava, told AFP that it was hard, explaining that her child is used to sleeping in complete silence and darkness.

She said she picked her daughter up and carried her downstairs, adding that the child woke up and had since struggled to fall back asleep, distracted by the brightness, barking dogs and other children around them.

Zelensky on Wednesday had urged citizens to take extra care ahead of the imminent Russian att@ck.

He said he was urging Ukrainians to be especially careful, to protect themselves, their children, and their families, and to make use of shelters and heed air raid alerts, describing this as very important. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been preparing the massive strike against Ukraine for some time.

Ukraine has also stepped up long-range drone att@cks inside Russia in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure and military targets.

Russian officials have reported repeated strikes in border regions, while Moscow has said its air defences have intercepted hundreds of drones from Ukraine in recent days.

Russia’s defence ministry confirmed on Thursday that it had launched a “massive strike” on Kyiv, describing it as retaliation for the Ukrainian counter-att@cks.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused more than two million military casualties, with Moscow’s forces bearing the brunt of the losses, according to a study published Wednesday by the US think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

US efforts to broker an end to the conflict have so far failed.

Zelensky said in a post on social media on Wednesday that Russia’s leadership was completely refusing to end the war.

He added that although Ukraine had conveyed, through all possible official and unofficial channels, including people close to Putin, that the war can and must be ended, and that Ukraine remains ready for meetings and meaningful negotiations, Putin instead sees only further aggression against Ukraine, its neighbours, and Europe as a whole.