It was the first major Russian combined attack on Kyiv in weeks as U.S.-led peace efforts to end the three-year war struggled to gain traction.
Kyiv, Ukraine — A massive Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s capital early Thursday, including a rare strike in the center of the city, killed at least 12 people and wounded some 48, local authorities said.
It was the first major Russian combined attack on Kyiv in weeks as U.S.-led peace efforts to end the three-year war struggled to gain traction.
Russia launched 598 strike drones and decoys and 31 missiles of different types across the country, according to Ukraine’s Air Force, making it one of the war’s biggest air attacks. Ukraine’s forces shot down and neutralized all but 41 of them, its Air Force said.
Among the dead were two children, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said, citing preliminary information. The numbers were expected to rise. Rescue teams were on site to pull out people trapped underneath the rubble.
« Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table », Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X following the attack. « We expect a response from everyone in the world who has called for peace but now more often stays silent rather than taking principled positions. »
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday it shot down 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, mostly in the country’s southwest. A drone attack sparked a blaze at the Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, local officials said, while a second fire was reported at the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Samara region.
Ukrainian drones have repeatedly struck refineries and other oil infrastructure in recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Russia’s war economy, causing gas stations in some Russian regions to run dry and prices to spike.
