At least nine people were killed and dozens injured as Russia carried out a major overnight assault on Ukrainian cities.
Five died and 25 were wounded in Dnipro. Four were killed in Kyiv, where at least 51 were injured, 35 of them hospitalised, after strikes in the early hours of Tuesday, BBC reports.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two high‑rise apartment blocks were hit and warned people may be trapped under rubble. He urged residents to remain in shelters. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration, said, “The enemy is striking with ballistic missiles.”
Air raid alerts were active across most of Ukraine. Large plumes of smoke rose from central Kyiv as drones buzzed overhead and more than a dozen explosions shook the city.
Fires broke out near a gas station, a construction site, apartment blocks, and two houses, Klitschko said. Blackouts and blazes were reported across the capital, with the full extent of damage unclear.
An industrial facility was also attacked in Zaporizhzhia.
Moscow last week warned of “systematic strikes” in response to a May drone attack on a dormitory in Russian‑held Luhansk that killed 21. Russia said it would target military and decision‑making centres in Kyiv and urged foreigners to leave.
Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed it struck near Starobilsk on May 21‑22, but said the target was a Russian military unit. Kyiv called Moscow’s threats “shameless blackmail” and urged allies to increase pressure.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday warned of a possible large strike, saying in his nightly address: “Intelligence warnings regarding Russian strikes remain in effect. A massive strike is possible, they have prepared one.”
Since a brief ceasefire expired in May, Russia has launched repeated waves of missile and drone attacks on Kyiv, including strikes on a block of flats that killed 24 people, among them three children.
Separately, Russia’s Krasnodar Krai emergency centre reported a fire at the Ilsky Oil Refinery after a Ukrainian drone attack. No casualties were reported.
A Ukrainian drone strike on the Moscow region killed three people, which Zelensky described as an “entirely justified” response to Russian attacks.
