Kyiv came under a massive, multi-wave Russian aerial assault in the early hours of Thursday, as Russian forces launched a combined missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital, killing at least five and trapping people under rubble after part of an apartment building collapsed.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia launched a total of 731 aerial weapons overnight – including 56 missiles and 675 drones – in what became one of the largest air assaults of the war. The main direction of the attack was Kyiv.
The barrage came immediately after Russia launched nearly 800 drones during attacks throughout Wednesday, continuing a sustained bombardment campaign that Ukrainian officials described as one of the longest and largest coordinated assaults since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian Air Force reports record Russian air strike
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia used Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, Iskander-M ballistic missiles, Kh-101 cruise missiles and hundreds of Shahed-type attack drones and decoy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) launched from multiple regions inside Russia and occupied Crimea.
Ukrainian air defenses – including aviation, anti-aircraft missile forces, electronic warfare units and mobile fire groups – reportedly destroyed or suppressed 693 aerial targets, including 41 missiles and 652 drones.
Officials said 15 missiles and 23 drones struck targets at 24 locations, while debris from intercepted targets fell across 18 separate areas. Air Force officials warned that the attack was still ongoing Thursday morning, with additional groups of drones entering Ukrainian airspace.
Rescue crews search the rubble
Air raid sirens sounded across Kyiv and much of Ukraine overnight as Ukraine’s Air Force tracked multiple groups of Russian missiles and drones moving toward the capital.
Deafening explosions echoed across the city as Ukrainian air defense units engaged incoming targets in successive waves.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said an entire section of a nine-story residential apartment building in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district was destroyed in the strike.
“A panel nine-story residential building in Darnytskyi district. Eighteen apartments have been destroyed,” Klitschko said.
He added that rescuers had already pulled 11 people from the building as search-and-rescue operations continued.
“Rescuers continue clearing the rubble, where people may still be trapped,” he said.
According to Klitschko, one person was killed in the attack on Kyiv and 19 residents were injured. Eight of the wounded were hospitalized in Kyiv medical facilities.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service earlier said rescuers had pulled survivors from the debris as emergency crews worked through the night.
Authorities later updated the casualty toll in the Darnytskyi district, saying the number of people killed there had risen to five.
Police said two men aged 21 and 30 were pulled from under the rubble of the destroyed apartment entrance, along with a woman whose identity is still being established. Another man died in hospital after being brought in from a gas station that was also hit in the attack.
Later, a 12-year-old girl was also pulled from the rubble. Twenty more people are still missing.
Officials said rescue operations were ongoing, with emergency crews continuing to search through the debris for possible survivors.
A calculated saturation strategy
President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier warned that Ukrainian intelligence detected preparations for further large-scale Russian missile and drone attacks.
Ukrainian officials said the scale and sequencing of the bombardment suggested a calculated saturation strategy aimed at exhausting Ukraine’s air defense ammunition and overwhelming monitoring systems before heavier missile salvos.
Speaking to Kyiv Post during the attack, Elkhan Nuriyev, a member of Ukraine’s Officers’ Union, said the tactic reflected Russia’s broader effort to wear down Ukrainian defenses while maximizing psychological pressure on civilians.
“Drones have been coming in waves for more than 30 hours,” Nuriyev said. “They usually launch missiles at night, when people are asleep, to cause maximum disruption and anxiety.”
According to Nuriyev, Moscow was attempting to create an atmosphere of exhaustion inside Ukraine while projecting an image of battlefield dominance internationally.
China meeting and Putin’s message
Nuriyev linked the timing of the strikes to the anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, arguing that the Kremlin wanted the war in Ukraine to dominate discussions between the world’s major powers.
“Putin wants them to say at the negotiating table in Beijing: ‘Look, Russia is finishing off Ukraine,’” Nuriyev said. “It is deliberately calculated to project an illusion of Russian dominance.”
The latest assault came just days after Russia’s scaled-back May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow, widely viewed as a sign of mounting pressure on the Kremlin amid the ongoing war.
Air raid alerts remained active across parts of Ukraine Thursday morning as officials urged residents to stay in shelters until the all-clear was given.