Russian ballistic barrage kills one in Kyiv

Russia fired one of its heaviest ballistic missile barrages at Kyiv overnight, killing one person and wounding at least 16 others as explosions shook the Ukrainian capital for several hours, Ukrainian officials said.

The attack began around 1:30 a.m. local time Sunday and hit multiple districts of the city. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 41 missiles and 125 attack drones across the country, including 25 ballistic missiles. Ukrainian forces intercepted or suppressed 108 drones and shot down 18 missiles.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said most of the missiles were aimed at Kyiv. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the strike as Russia’s largest ballistic missile attack on the capital since the start of the war and called it “a brutal terrorist attack on the Ukrainian capital.”

“We need devastating pressure on Moscow to end this terror,” Sybiha wrote on X.

The BBC, citing officials, reported that at least 14 people were wounded, while NPR and Al Jazeera cited local authorities saying 16 were injured. Zelenskyy called the barrage “one of the most massive ballistic attacks on Kyiv” since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.

Fires broke out across the capital. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said residential buildings, office and industrial sites, a dormitory and vehicles were damaged. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said residential and nonresidential buildings were hit, including a supermarket and a dormitory, and that firefighters battled blazes at two warehouses.

Rescue crews pulled four people from a burning private home in the Sviatoshynskyi district and helped residents escape a burning three-story building in the Shevchenkivskyi district. A fire in a nonresidential building was also contained. One person was later found dead. Firefighters also responded to blazes in the Solomyanskyi, Desnianskyi and Dnipro districts, and Ukraine’s national police said the attacks spanned six districts.

Viktoria Shejko, 32, said she sheltered in the corridor of her apartment block with her husband and seven children after the air raid alarm sounded.

“When the alarm started, we checked that there were ballistics, then went into the corridor. Then it started exploding one missile after another,” she said. “It’s very difficult psychologically, because lately they’ve been firing ballistic missiles at us very often. It used to be once a week or even more rarely, but now if not every day, then every other day.”

Russia’s defense ministry said the Kyiv attack targeted sites linked to Ukraine’s military, including plants producing Flamingo drones and parts for Neptune guided missiles, as well as a postal terminal it said was used to store dual-use goods and assemble drones, robotic systems and electronic warfare equipment.

Ukraine has faced repeated large-scale attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks as it contends with a shortage of Patriot air defense missiles, its most effective weapon against Russian ballistic missiles. The BBC reported that the latest strike involved Iskander and hypersonic Zircon missiles. Zelenskyy said Russia had used about 1,450 strike drones, more than 1,640 guided bombs and 99 missiles of various types against Ukraine over the past week.

“Protection against ballistic missiles is our constant and top priority right now,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Interceptors are needed every day.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is prepared to grant Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot interceptor missiles domestically, though details and timing remain unclear.

Elsewhere, Russian drone strikes killed one person in Dnipropetrovsk, according to regional official Oleksandr Ganzha. In Zaporizhia, a Russian drone hit a passenger train, killing its conductor, Ukraine’s national railway company said.

Ukraine also continued strikes on Russian targets. Al Jazeera reported that Ukrainian forces said they struck two Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea. The BBC reported that Ukrainian drones attacked two warehouses belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries, killing eight people and causing large fires, and that a drone attack caused a fire in an industrial park in Russia’s Stavropol region.