A massive wave of Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv early Sunday, sparking fires and hours of explosions that rattled buildings across the city. Photographs showed a trade center burning as people carried belongings from the rubble.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said at least two people were killed and 77 injured, and that there was damage “in every district of the city.” The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia launched roughly 600 drones and 90 missiles in the attack, including a powerful hypersonic ballistic missile known as the Oreshnik. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted most of the drones and more than half of the missiles.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would send additional support to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses. In a statement posted to social media she condemned the strikes: “Russia’s massive attack on Ukraine last night shows the Kremlin’s brutality and disregard for both human life and peace negotiations. Terror against civilians is not strength. It’s despair.”
Ukraine’s culture minister, Tetyana Berezhna, said the raids inflicted unprecedented damage to cultural sites in the capital since Russia’s 2022 invasion. She said the museum dedicated to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was destroyed and one of Kyiv’s oldest markets burned.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned earlier that large strikes involving an Oreshnik missile were imminent, citing intelligence from European and U.S. partners. In a video posted to social media after the attack he said an Oreshnik struck the city of Bila Tserkva, about 50 miles south of Kyiv, and called the attackers “unhinged.” Russia’s defense ministry confirmed it had used the Oreshnik; Russian officials have previously described the weapon as extremely fast and able to defeat air defenses.
Moscow said the strikes were retaliation after it blamed Ukraine for a recent drone attack on a college in Starobilsk, in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that at least 21 people were killed and 42 injured in that incident; Ukraine denies targeting the college.
Analysts and officials say diplomatic talks to end the war have stalled. The story notes that U.S. attention has been occupied by the conflict between Israel and Iran, and that the Trump administration recently relaxed some restrictions on Russian oil exports to address energy shortfalls linked to those wider regional tensions. Oil revenues remain a key pillar of Russia’s economy and a factor in funding the war.
Ukrainian forces have in recent weeks mounted long-range drone strikes into Russia that have damaged refineries, fuel depots and export infrastructure, as well as logistics and ammunition hubs inside Russian-occupied territory.
NPR recently embedded with a Ukrainian military unit that launches domestically produced long-range drones. A unit member who uses the callsign Uki watched one drone climb into the night sky and said the strikes are a way for Ukraine to “impose effective sanctions to force Russia into a just and lasting peace.” (At the request of Ukraine’s military, NPR identifies soldiers by first name or callsign for security reasons.)
NPR producer Polina Lytvynova contributed to this report.