At least nine people have been killed and dozens more injured following one of the most devastating Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv in recent months, Ukrainian officials said.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed the deaths early Monday, noting that the strikes had targeted residential buildings, hospitals, and sports facilities across the Kyiv region. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said six of the victims died when a high-rise apartment block in the capital was struck. According to the city’s military administration, 33 others were wounded.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that the latest wave of attacks involved 352 drones and 16 missiles, most of them aimed at Kyiv and surrounding areas.
The overnight assault came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in London for talks with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer focused on military support.
In Kyiv, residents described scenes of chaos and terror. Valeriy Mankuta, 33, said he “woke up in the rubble” after his apartment was hit. “There were bricks on me, something in my mouth. It was total hell,” he told Reuters. He managed to escape by climbing out of a window.
Another resident, Natalia Marshavska, recalled hearing a drone buzzing above her apartment before it exploded. The blast hurled her across the room and shattered the windows. “Smoke was everywhere. It was horrible,” she told AFP.
Thousands of residents were forced to take shelter in metro stations and underground bunkers as sirens wailed and drones swarmed the skies. Ukraine’s emergency services released footage showing dazed civilians being evacuated from a burning apartment building, while firefighters battled flames and sifted through rubble.
The entrance to one Kyiv metro station — commonly used as a bomb shelter — was damaged in the blast. A university dormitory and several classrooms were also struck. Outside the capital, a drone strike on a hospital in Bila Tserkva reportedly killed one person.
In the southern Odesa region, a separate Russian strike killed two people and injured at least a dozen more. President Zelensky said a school in the area was nearly destroyed. “None of these Russian strikes are random — they know exactly where they’re targeting,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Russia has ramped up aerial attacks in recent weeks, using waves of missiles, drones, and decoys in an apparent attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defences. Military officials say the strategy is taking a toll, with Ukrainian forces struggling to intercept every threat.
Ukraine’s top commander, General Oleksandr Syrsky, said the military would respond with increased offensives of its own. “We will not remain in a purely defensive posture,” he said. “That only leads to retreats, losses, and more territory falling into enemy hands.”
Monday’s attack comes just days after another major strike on Kyiv that killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 100 — one of the deadliest assaults on the capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war remain stalled. The last round of direct talks ended nearly three weeks ago with only limited agreements on prisoner and body exchanges. No further negotiations have been scheduled.
Zelensky was expected to meet with former U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of last week’s G7 summit, but the meeting was cancelled after Trump left early amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
The Ukrainian president is now scheduled to attend a dinner during the NATO summit in the Netherlands, which begins Tuesday, where military support and strategic coordination are expected to be high on the agenda.
