Russia pounds Kyiv in large-scale drone and missile attack

KYIV: Russia launched a large-scale aerial assault on Ukraine, striking Kyiv and several regions overnight and killing at least one person while injuring dozens, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.

The attack marked the first combined missile and drone barrage since the end of a brief US-brokered ceasefire and came hours after Moscow carried out hundreds of drone strikes in a daytime assault that killed six people, officials said.

Kyiv regional authorities said one person was killed and several dozen were wounded in the overnight strikes, which Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said targeted civilian infrastructure and residential buildings.

Images released by Ukraine’s State Emergency Service showed rescuers searching through the rubble of a collapsed apartment block for survivors, while Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said at least 11 people had been pulled alive from the debris.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the timing of the attack, during US President Donald Trump’s visit to China, showed Moscow’s intent to continue the war despite international diplomatic efforts.

“There should be no illusions or wishful thinking: only pressure on Moscow can force him to stop,” Sybiha wrote on X. He added that US and Chinese leaders had sufficient leverage to push Russian President Vladimir Putin toward ending the conflict.

Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said the strikes also hit railway infrastructure and port facilities in the southern Odesa region.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia fired 675 drones and 56 missiles in the latest barrage, most of which were intercepted, though 38 strikes were recorded across 24 locations.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had launched more than 1,560 drones since a sustained aerial campaign began earlier in the week.

“In total, since midnight yesterday, Russia has used more than 1,560 drones against our cities and communities,” Zelenskiy wrote on X, adding that the attacks showed Moscow was not preparing to end the war.

The conflict, now in its fifth year, has continued despite renewed US-backed peace efforts that have so far yielded little progress.