Russian forces launched a massive overnight air attack on Ukraine, firing 14 ballistic missiles and deploying around 250 Shahed strike UAVs and drone decoys, the Ukrainian Air Force reported.
As per the report, shared on Telegram, beginning at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, May 23, Russia targeted the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia regions with 14 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles. Simultaneously, waves of drones and drone simulators approached from multiple directions.
“The main direction of the enemy attack was the capital of Ukraine 0 Kyiv,” the Air Force said.
The assault was countered by aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare (EW), unmanned systems, and mobile fire teams of Ukraine’s Defense Forces.
As of 8:30 a.m., six ballistic missiles were shot down over Kyiv, and 245 enemy UAVs were neutralized across eastern, northern, southern, and central Ukraine.
Of those, 128 were destroyed by firepower, while 117 were suppressed by electronic warfare systems without causing damage.
The Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions all sustained impacts during the overnight barrage.
As previously reported by Kyiv Post, Russian forces launched a massive overnight air attack on Kyiv, striking the capital with waves of Shahed drones and ballistic missiles.
The assault came in phases - drones late on May 23, followed by missiles and more drones in the early hours of May 24. The air raid alert ended at 05:10.
Kyiv Post correspondents across the city reported intense air defense activity, the buzzing of Shaheds, and explosions every 5–10 minutes.
Emergency response efforts are ongoing after what authorities called one of the largest combined attacks on Kyiv to date.
“A difficult night for all of us... The enemy is improving its tactics of using drones, while simultaneously striking with ballistics,” said Kyiv City Military Administration head Timur Tkachenko.
District-level damage reported as of 08:00 includes:
Holosiivskyi: Drone debris injured one person and damaged five cars.
Svyatoshynskyi: “Hit hard again,” with damage to non-residential sites. Fires were localized.
Solomyanskyi: A fire on four floors of a building injured seven; one person was rescued.
Shevchenkivskyi: Fire in a non-residential building, now contained.
Dniprovsky: Debris hit a high-rise apartment; two injured.
Obolonskyi: “The most severely damaged,” Tkachenko said. A drone hit a residential high-rise, damaging apartments from the 3rd to 6th floors. Five people were injured; two were rescued.
Residents were urged to report debris and avoid contact.