Russian strikes kill at least nine across Ukraine

Russia launched one of its largest recent missile and drone attacks across Ukraine overnight, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens as explosions shook Kyiv and emergency crews searched damaged buildings for people feared trapped under rubble.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 656 drones and 73 missiles, according to Reuters. Air raid warnings covered most of the country in the early hours of Tuesday, and Ukrainian officials said ballistic missiles struck the capital, setting fires, cutting power in several districts and damaging apartment blocks.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people were killed in the capital and at least 58 others were wounded, including two children, in what he called a “mass enemy attack.” Earlier, he urged residents to remain in shelters. “Explosions in the city. Air defense forces are working! Stay in shelters!” he said.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration, said: “The enemy is striking with ballistic missiles.”

AFP journalists reported hearing several explosions in Kyiv and seeing residents rush to shelters carrying bags and blankets as a large plume of smoke rose from the city center. The buzz of drones could be heard between more than a dozen loud blasts, according to one source account.

The strikes caused fires near a gas station, a construction site, several apartment blocks and two houses, Klitschko said. Blackouts were reported across the city.

At one strike site, Reuters quoted resident Olha Mudra, who was with her six-year-old daughter, describing the scene. “We couldn’t understand what was happening — some kind of apocalypse?” she said. “Everything was covered (with debris), everything in smoke, you could see nothing,” she said in front of a destroyed apartment building and damaged cars.

Deadly attacks were also reported outside the capital. In Dnipro, local officials gave differing casualty figures in the source reports: one said five people were killed and 25 wounded, including three in serious condition, while another reported six deaths. In Kharkiv, Mayor Igor Terekhov said 10 people were wounded, including a child. An industrial facility was also attacked in Zaporizhzhia.

The assault followed warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia was preparing a major attack. On Friday, he said Ukraine had “intelligence information about Russia preparing a new massive strike” and urged people to “protect your lives.” On Monday night, he repeated the warning in a video address. “Intelligence warnings regarding Russian strikes remain in effect. A massive strike is possible, they have prepared one,” he said.

Zelenskyy has renewed calls for allies to allow and finance supplies of Patriot missiles, which can intercept Russian ballistic missiles. He wrote to President Trump and Congress last week asking for Patriot systems in response to intensifying Russian air attacks.

Moscow last week warned it would launch “systematic strikes” on Ukraine after a drone attack last month on a dormitory in Ukraine’s Russian-held Luhansk region killed 21 people. Russia said it would target military and decision-making centers in Kyiv and urged foreigners to leave the city. Ukraine’s General Staff said it carried out an attack near Starobilsk on May 21-22 but said it struck a Russian military unit. Kyiv called Russia’s threats “nothing short of shameless blackmail.”

Ukraine has also stepped up strikes on occupied territories and inside Russia. A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person in Russia’s Kursk region, regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said. In Krasnodar, emergency officials said a drone attack sparked a fire at the Ilsky Oil Refinery, with no casualties reported.

Russia launched a record 8,150 long-range drones at Ukraine in May, an AFP analysis of Ukrainian air force data showed, up 24% from April. Kyiv intercepted about 90% of incoming drones and missiles that month, according to air force data.