Kyiv trembles at dawn as deadly Russian firestorms sweep the capital

Kyiv awoke to a grim symphony of blasts at first light on Thursday, as nearly every district of the Ukrainian capital came under what mayor Vitaly Klitschko described as a “massive” and unrelenting wave of strikes, the Al Jazeera reported.

Sirens wailed through the early morning haze while residents, many still in nightclothes, rushed to shelters or huddled in corridors as tremors shook apartment towers.

By mid-morning, emergency crews were combing through mangled debris and shattered glass. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service confirmed at least one death and more than 24 injuries, noting that several of the wounded were pulled from partially collapsed buildings. Plumes of smoke rose over residential neighbourhoods, and traffic ground to a halt as authorities cordoned off affected zones to search for unexploded ordnance.

Across the border, Russia painted its own picture of escalation. The defence ministry said that overnight its air-defence systems had either shot down or intercepted 216 Ukrainian drones, describing the assault as one of the most intense unmanned attacks to date. Of these, 66 drones were reported destroyed over the southern Krasnodar region, prompting temporary airport closures and power disruptions in parts of the territory, according to local authorities.

In a separate development adding to the day’s tensions, Russia’s FSB security service announced that it had thwarted what it called a Ukrainian plot to assassinate a high-ranking government official, whose identity it did not disclose. The agency alleged that Kyiv had been preparing similar operations in other regions — claims Ukraine has previously dismissed as political theatre aimed at justifying increased repression and military escalation.

As both sides issued starkly different narratives and counted their losses, the war’s relentless churn once again spilled across borders and skylines. For Kyiv’s residents, it was another morning marked by fear and resilience; for Moscow, another night framed as a defensive triumph. But for the region at large, the day underscored a deepening volatility in a conflict now defined as much by psychological pressure and political messaging as by the devastation on the ground.