‘Massive’ Russian missile strike on Kyiv kills at least 12 people, Zelenskyy says

LONDON — A “massive” Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv on Wednesday night killed at least 12 people and injured more than 40 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to social media on Thursday.

“Throughout the night, our emergency services have been working at the sites of Russian strikes,” Zelenskyy wrote. “The attack was massive — the Russians prepared for a long time and combined different types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones to inflict as much damage as possible on civilian infrastructure.”

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched an unspecified number of ballistic missiles into the country overnight as well as 46 cruise or air-to-ground missiles of various types. Russia also launched 168 drones, the air force said.

“The main direction of the attack was the Kyiv region,” the air force wrote in a post to Telegram. It added that 41 cruise missiles of various types and 145 drones were shot down or otherwise suppressed, with munitions reported impacting across 28 locations.

The air force did not say whether any ballistic missiles were shot down. Earlier this month, the air force stopped publishing the number of ballistic missiles fired or intercepted in Russia’s nightly barrages.

Around the capital, Zelenskyy said that residential buildings, a children’s hospital and school were among the sites damaged. The president also reported overnight Russian attacks in the southern Odesa and northern Chernihiv regions.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in posts to Telegram that damage was reported in the Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi and Darnitskyi areas of the city, including fires at warehouses and residential buildings.

Recent months have seen an expansion of Russian missile attacks all across Ukraine, as officials in Kyiv warn that Ukrainian stocks of anti-missile interceptor munitions are dangerously low and, in some cases, exhausted.

Ukraine is working on its own ballistic missile interceptor program — the FREYJA — but officials in Kyiv have said they do not expect the weapon to be operational until 2027.

Zelenskyy on Thursday again appealed to foreign partners to route more ammunition to Kyiv. “Unfortunately, while Moscow is investing in ballistics and escalation, there isn’t always the necessary response from the world to such attacks,” he wrote.

“As long as Ukraine lacks sufficient anti-ballistic defenses, Russia will not seriously consider peace. We are doing everything we can to ensure protection, and work on the FREYJA program continues every day. However, interceptors for ‘Patriot’ systems are not yet available, and they are needed every day,” Zelenskyy wrote.

“Each additional missile saves the lives of our people. I thank everyone who understands this, who seeks and finds ways to help,” he added.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reported a “horrible and sleepless night in Kyiv,” in a post to X. “This was one of the most brutal Russian attacks to date, with ballistic missiles raining down on our capital one after another,” he wrote.

Russia’s Defense Ministry described the overnight attack as having targeted “military industrial enterprises, a transport and logistics hub and warehouses in Kyiv and the Kyiv region.”

The Defense Ministry also said that it shot down at least 726 Ukrainian drones over 18 Russian regions plus Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. At least 28 drones were shot down over the Moscow region, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Telegram.