Russia launched one of the largest ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv since the full-scale invasion began, killing at least 20 people and injuring 140 across Ukraine over 24 hours, officials said. The capital came under intense bombardment, with dozens of missiles targeting the city in less than an hour, the Ukrainian air force reported, using Iskander and hypersonic Zircon missiles as well as 125 drones. Air defences shot down 18 out of 41 missiles and intercepted 108 drones, but debris and strikes damaged residential buildings, a supermarket, a dormitory, and two warehouses. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said both residential and non-residential buildings were hit. Firefighters battled blazes at two warehouses and a logistics hub in Bucha district near Kyiv was struck, injuring two people.
In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, a postal terminal in the suburbs was attacked, killing four men aged between 24 and 62. Several of the injured were in a serious condition, according to Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov. An elderly woman died in Kyiv, and there were two more fatalities in Zaporizhzhia and one in Sumy. Late on Sunday, Ukraine’s navy said five people were killed when a Turkish-owned civilian cargo ship carrying grain was hit by Russian missiles in the Black Sea. Russia did not comment.
“Ukraine launched 400 drones at Moscow after Russia's massive ballistic missile attack killed 20 across Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the raid on Kyiv as “one of the most massive ballistic attacks” since 2022. He said that in the past week Russia had used about 1,450 strike drones, more than 1,640 guided bombs and 99 missiles of various types against Ukraine.
Ukraine retaliated by targeting Moscow with 400 drones overnight, wounding two people and setting buildings ablaze, Russian officials said. Kyiv has intensified strikes on Russian territory in recent months, describing them as retribution for more than four years of bombardments. Zelensky said Ukrainian units had hit three oil depots in the Stavropol region simultaneously, and struck three Russian “shadow fleet” tankers in the Black Sea. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which carries Kazakhstan’s Caspian oil to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, said its terminal had been hit, damaging two tankers and suspending oil loading operations. There were no injuries or oil spills. Stavropol’s governor said a drone attack caused a fire in an industrial park.
Zelensky said the strikes targeted facilities that “finance Russian aggression”. He added: “I thank every one of our units that is helping to spread the realisation within Russia that this war must be brought to an end.” Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine was informing the International Maritime Organization about Russia’s attacks on civilian shipping and called for an international monitoring mission at Ukraine’s ports to document “every act of Russia’s maritime terror”.
