Russian forces launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, killing at least eight people in the capital and one more in the surrounding region, Ukrainian authorities reported. At least 33 others were wounded in what Ukraine's State Emergency Service described as a "massive attack," with explosions rocking multiple districts of the city shortly after midnight and again before dawn. Buildings shook, car alarms rang out and a smell of smoke hung over the city as fires broke out across residential areas.
The strikes caused serious damage across several districts. In the Solomianskyi district in south-western Kyiv, a nine-storey residential building partially collapsed and caught fire, with people reported trapped in the rubble — rescuers managed to pull at least two survivors from the debris. A children's hospital in the same district had its windows blown out and cars set ablaze on its grounds. An educational institution was also damaged. The Sviatoshynskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts were also hit, and parts of Kyiv lost electricity overnight. A separate strike on Brovary, a district in the broader Kyiv region to the east, killed one man and wounded another, damaging an industrial facility there.
Ukraine's air force had warned of Russian Kalibr cruise missiles and ballistic rockets approaching the capital. The strikes triggered security responses in neighbouring NATO member states: Poland's military launched defensive air operations to protect its airspace, while Romania scrambled two Spanish fighter jets deployed on NATO missions after radar detected aerial objects near the Ukrainian border. A drone crossed into Romanian airspace near Galați, a city in eastern Romania, before crashing in an unpopulated area in Tulcea county without causing casualties or significant damage. Russia's Defence Ministry claimed its forces had targeted a drone-component production facility and a munitions depot in Kyiv, though these claims could not be independently verified.
The attack comes during a particularly turbulent moment in Ukrainian domestic politics. The day before the strikes, Ukraine's parliament confirmed Yevhenii Khmara, a career intelligence official and former head of the SBU's Alpha special operations unit, as the country's new defence minister in a near-unanimous vote of 312 to 2. His appointment follows the dismissal of the previous minister after a public falling-out with the military leadership. That political rupture deepened when the ousted minister released a video calling for Ukraine to hold elections — currently suspended under wartime martial law — arguing the country faces a "systemic crisis of governance." Dozens of protesters gathered in Kyiv in support of the call, though many acknowledged the practical difficulties of holding a genuine vote during an active war. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's term formally expired in May 2024, but the presidential election has been postponed indefinitely while martial law remains in force.
The attack is part of a sustained campaign of near-nightly Russian strikes that has intensified in recent weeks, with Russia increasingly relying on ballistic missiles that are difficult to intercept due to their speed. Ukraine has faced a growing shortage of the interceptor rockets needed for its Patriot air defence systems — considered the most effective tool against ballistic threats — and the gap has allowed more strikes to hit their targets. In parallel, Ukraine has escalated its own long-range strikes inside Russian territory, including a recent wave of some 600 drones targeting Moscow. Russia has controlled roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, concentrated largely in the east and south, since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022.