Russian attack on Kyiv kills at least 21, injures scores

At least 21 people were killed and more than 90 people were injured after Russian drones and missiles hit residential buildings in Kyiv as part of a broader wave of Russian attacks overnight on the Ukrainian capital.

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the capital, called it the "most massive enemy attack."

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia deployed 570 aerial objects during the attack, nearly 500 of which were drones.

The Russian military launched 24 Iskander ballistic missiles and about 50 cruise missiles of various types at Kyiv.

Among these missiles were four Zircon hypersonic guided missiles, which were primarily developed to target ships.

Klitschko earlier said a hotel roof caught fire on the central Shevchenko Boulevard, while a direct hit from a Russian projectile caused six floors of an apartment building to partially collapse.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said it was a "night of horror" in the capital.

Emergency crews were seen searching through the rubble of the collapsed nine-story building in a Reuters video.

According to Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, three dozen locations across the city were damaged in the attacks, which lasted for some 11 hours.

The Kyiv Metro reported that over 50,000 people sought shelter in subway stations following air raid warnings issued by authorities.

Zelenskyy calls for air defense supplies

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian attacks also targeted places beyond Kyiv.

"Five people were wounded in the Kharkiv region, including a child, and two more in the Kyiv region, where civilian infrastructure was also targeted. Overnight, Russia also struck the Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Cherkasy regions," he wrote.

Zelenskyy reiterated Ukraine's urgent request for air defense supplies, particularly Patriot missiles and related systems.

"We also very much count on a decision by the United States regarding licenses for Patriots and other forms of cooperation," he said. "These are the kinds of steps that can stop this war and prevent attacks like this."

The Ukrainian president vowed to retaliate for Russia's strikes as he visited an apartment building in Kyiv that was partially destroyed in the attack.

Zelenskyy earlier cut short his stay in Dublin, Ireland, after intelligence reports indicated that a major Russian assault was likely.

Ukrainian drones disrupting Russian military lines

Russia said the drone and missile attacks were a retaliation for Ukrainian drone strikes that targeted Moscow earlier this week.

That Ukrainian drone assault came less than two weeks after the country hit a major oil refinery in the Moscow region in the biggest drone attack on the Russian capital since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russia has targeted Ukraine's energy facilities and other critical infrastructure over the course of the war.

But Ukraine is now producing better long-range drones and has struck targets deep inside Russia.

A new analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Wednesday said that, by some estimates, over 90% of Russian casualties were from drone attacks rather than a result of human-to-human engagements.

Russia's heavy price in Ukraine war

The CSIS study said Russian forces suffered approximately 1.4 million battlefield casualties (soldiers killed, wounded or missing) between February 2022 and June 2026 and between 400,000 and 450,000 fatalities during the same period. 

Ukrainian forces have suffered somewhere between 525,000 and 625,000 casualties (soldiers killed, wounded, and missing) and between 125,000 and 150,000 fatalities between February 2022 and June 2026.

That means more than 2 million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the start of the war.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru and Karl Sexton

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