Russia launched a massive overnight missile and drone attack on Kyiv, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 90 others, in what Ukrainian officials described as the worst assault on the capital in four and a half years of war. Explosions rang out across the city during a bombardment that lasted more than eleven hours, and the death toll climbed steadily as search and rescue crews pulled more victims from the rubble, with Ukrainian rescue services raising the figure to at least 30 by Friday morning.
The scale of the assault was staggering. Russia fired more than 70 missiles of various types at Ukraine overnight, nearly half of them ballistic, along with almost 500 attack drones. The Ukrainian air force said 28 of the missiles aimed at Kyiv were ballistic, a record number for a single attack on the capital, with much of the firepower directed at the city.
The human toll climbed steadily as the recovery went on. Officials first reported around 27 dead on Thursday, and by Friday morning Ukrainian rescue services said the number killed had risen to at least 30, with more than 90 people wounded, among them children and medical workers who were hurt when a strike hit an ambulance substation. Residents took cover as the attack unfolded, with Kyiv's metro sheltering a record 52,500 people, including some 4,500 children.
One of the most devastating scenes was in the Darnytskyi district, where a Russian strike tore into a nine-story residential building and sent six of its floors collapsing into a heap of rubble, while a nearby five-story building was also badly damaged. People were left trapped beneath the wreckage, and rescue crews worked through the site searching for survivors, warning that more bodies could still be found.
The damage stretched across the city. Officials said damage and destruction had been recorded at around 30 locations across Kyiv's districts, mainly residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, leaving neighborhoods scarred by the overnight bombardment.
The strike drew an immediate response from Ukraine's leader. President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was cutting short a trip to Ireland to return to Ukraine, adding that it had been known for some time that Russian President Vladimir Putin was preparing to launch another large-scale strike. Ukrainian intelligence had warned of a fresh wave of attacks.
The bombardment came against the backdrop of an intensifying long-range campaign by Ukraine. In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have stepped up drone strikes on Russia's oil industry, hitting targets more than 1,000 kilometers from the border and helping to trigger a fuel crisis that Putin has been forced to acknowledge.
As rescue operations continued at the collapsed building and other damaged sites, the attack underscored the continued escalation of the war. For residents of Kyiv, the overnight strikes brought another deadly reminder that the capital remains firmly within Russia's reach.