Russian forces launched a major drone and missile attack on Kyiv overnight, killing 22 people and injuring 85, including two children, according to Ukraine’s State Emergencies Service. Mayor Vitaly Klitschko described the assault as the “most massive attack” on the Ukrainian capital.

Attack Targets Civilian Infrastructure and Evacuations

Several neighborhoods were evacuated as strikes hit the city hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia was preparing an attack, though Kyiv’s metro authorities said 52,500 people, including 4,500 children, sheltered in underground stations overnight, the highest number in recent years.

Among the places hit by the strikes was a high-rise block of flats in Darnitskyi district, where two missiles caused devastation; One missile left a giant crater next to a kindergarten, and the surrounding buildings were gutted by fire. The second missile landed nearby and caused a nine-storey block of flats to collapse into a heap of concrete.

Ukraine Accuses Russia of Targeting Civilians

Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said children were among the “significant number” of casualties. He added that the enemy is deliberately targeting residential areas and killing civilians. Oleksiy, a resident injured in the attack, dismissed Moscow’s explanation for the assault, stating, “They started this war. This is a residential area. And they targeted it.”

The Ukrainian Red Cross said its warehouse had been destroyed in the overnight strikes, with a loss of supplies worth more than £1.3m (79m Ukrainian Hryvnia). The charity said the loss of around 320,000 relief items will affect emergency response and humanitarian operations across Ukraine.

Complex Attack on Air Defences

The attack on Kyiv lasted more than 11 hours and came in several waves, starting with a drone strike on Kyiv’s historic quarter. At 01:00 (23:00 GMT on Wednesday), dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles were fired, followed by a swarm of drones that targeted the capital until dawn.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight, mainly targeting the capital. While the country’s air defences were able to repel most of these, 25 ballistic missiles and 12 drones struck 33 locations. Aviation expert Bohdan Dolintsev told Ukrainian media that Russia’s tactic of using multiple types of weapons within the same time window creates an exceptionally complex challenge for Ukraine’s air defence systems.