Russia launches massive drone and missile attacks on Kyiv, officials say

Ukrainian officials said three people were killed and at least 26 others were injured in a wave of Russian missile and drone attacks on Kiev.

City Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the strikes, which caused explosions and fires in residential buildings across the city, as “massive.”

He added that Kiev’s energy infrastructure was also damaged, leading to heating outages in some buildings in the northeast. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that several other regions across the country were also targeted.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down or intercepted 216 Ukrainian drones that targeted its industrial facilities and disrupted air travel, according to Reuters news agency.

In Kiev, residential buildings were attacked “in almost every district,” the head of the city’s military administration, Timur Tkachenko, said on Telegram.

He issued a shelter-in-place warning one minute after midnight on Friday local time (22:01 GMT), writing: “It’s loud in Kiev.”

Falling debris and fires damaged several high-rise residential buildings, a hospital, a school and office buildings, according to emergency services.

They added that more than 40 people were rescued, including 14 from a fire in a residential building in the Desnayansky district, where one person died.

They added that another person was rescued in the building after being pulled from under the rubble.

Officials said medical teams had been deployed to all the fires, while Klitschko said nine people were being treated in hospital, including a man in “extremely serious condition.”

The city’s mayor noted that parts of the heating network in the Ukrainian capital were also damaged in the attack, adding that the city’s electricity and water supplies may have been disrupted.

The Ukrainian Air Force warned that drones and guided bombs were targeting several other areas, including Sumy.

The night strikes came in the wake of the killing of six people in Another Russian attack less than a week ago Which also led to the destruction of residential buildings and energy infrastructure.

Russia says its attacks on energy targets, now a familiar part of the war, are aimed at the Ukrainian military.

Those attacks prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to call for “no exceptions” to Western sanctions on Russian energy – shortly after the United States granted Hungary one such exemption.

US President Donald Trump initially announced sanctions on Russian oil after he said that ceasefire talks with Russian President Vladimir had not made progress.