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Russia launched a major missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 40 as Moscow intensifies its aerial campaign while President Volodymyr Zelensky faces growing political turmoil at home.
Dozens of ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles were launched alongside 168 drones during the attack, which continued for hours primarily targeting Kyiv and the surrounding region.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 145 of the 168 drones and most of the cruise missiles. The attack highlights a growing vulnerability in Ukraine’s air defences as stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles run low.
Residential buildings, a school, a children’s hospital and a kindergarten were among around 30 buildings damaged in Kyiv and the surrounding region.
The upper floors of a nine-storey residential building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district were destroyed.
Fires also broke out at warehouses and fuel infrastructure around the capital.
More than 600 rescuers and police officers were deployed following the strikes, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. More than 38,000 people sheltered in Kyiv’s underground stations during the attack.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared Friday a day of mourning for the victims.
The assault comes amid an escalation in long-range attacks by both sides. Ukraine has sharply increased drone strikes against Russian oil refineries, military facilities and logistics infrastructure. Ukrainian drones again targeted Russian energy facilities overnight, including the TANECO oil refinery in Tatarstan and infrastructure in Krasnodar Krai.
Russia has meanwhile increased pressure on Ukraine’s air defences with increasingly complex attacks combining drones with cruise and ballistic missiles.
Zelensky again appealed to Ukraine’s allies for additional Patriot missiles following the overnight strikes.
“The interceptors for Patriot systems have not yet been replaced, and they are needed every day,” Zelensky said. “Each additional missile saves the lives of our people.”
Ukraine relies heavily on Patriot systems to defend against Russian ballistic missiles, which most of its other air-defence systems cannot reliably intercept.
The attack also raised tensions beyond Ukraine. Poland scrambled aircraft and activated air defences during the Russian barrage, while Romania also deployed fighter jets as aerial threats approached NATO territory.
The military pressure comes as Zelensky confronts one of the most significant internal political challenges since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, previously one of Zelensky’s most prominent allies, has called for elections despite the country remaining under martial law.
Fedorov said elections were necessary because Ukraine faced a “systemic crisis of governance” linked to corruption.
His removal from the defence ministry last month had already triggered rare wartime demonstrations. His subsequent intervention has widened the dispute into a debate over the leadership of the country during the war.
Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022, under which elections cannot be held. The government has argued that conducting a nationwide vote would be impossible while fighting continues, millions of Ukrainians remain displaced and parts of the country are under Russian occupation.
The political pressure has been compounded by renewed corruption allegations involving senior officials.
The Kremlin seized on the divisions on Thursday, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Ukraine’s political leadership was deeply divided.
“The Kyiv regime and this quasi-political arena of the Kyiv regime are extremely heterogeneous,” Peskov said. “We can see that many there are, naturally, trying to fish in troubled waters.”
Moscow has repeatedly questioned Zelensky’s legitimacy because presidential elections have not been held during the war. Kyiv rejects the claim.
The dispute comes as Ukraine faces growing pressure on several fronts. Russia is intensifying long-range attacks while Kyiv faces shortages of critical Western air-defence ammunition. Ukraine is also expanding its own strikes deep inside Russia as Zelensky’s government faces increasing scrutiny over corruption and wartime leadership.
