Russian missile, drone barrage kills 18 across Ukraine as Moscow steps up attacks

Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine overnight, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Kyiv and other cities, killing at least 18 people and injuring 131, Ukrainian authorities said on Tuesday.

The attack, which continued into the morning hours, came amid an intensified Russian aerial campaign that Ukrainian officials say is exploiting Kyiv's shortage of US-made air defence systems.

Twelve people were killed in the central city of Dnipro and six in Kyiv, officials said. Rescue workers searching through the rubble in Dnipro recovered the bodies of a three-year-old child, a woman and her eight-year-old son from a destroyed residential building.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as proof that Russia intended to continue its missile campaign unless Ukraine received additional military assistance.

“This is an explicit statement by Russia: if Ukraine is not protected from ballistic missiles and other missile strikes, those strikes will continue,” Zelenskyy said.

Hundreds of drones and missiles launched

According to Ukraine's Air Force, Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones during the attack. The primary targets included Kyiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia.

Ukrainian air defences said they intercepted or suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.

Authorities reported direct hits by 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones at 38 locations across the country. Debris from intercepted drones fell in at least 15 locations.

Kyiv suffered extensive damage across eight districts. At least 79 people, including three children, were injured in the capital.

Residents described a night of explosions and destruction.

Iryna Salikova, 37, said she sheltered in a bathtub with her three-year-old daughter as blasts rocked the city.

“Our window was broken. A cobblestone flew into the children's room. Thank God we're alive. Today we're alive, today we're lucky,” she said.

Another Kyiv resident, 65-year-old Olena Dniprovska, said the blast wave destroyed her apartment and threw her husband from a room.

“Now I have nowhere to live. The apartment is completely destroyed,” she said.

Dnipro declares day of mourning

Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov announced a day of mourning on Wednesday for the victims. Hours later, he reported another drone strike on a residential building in the city.

In Kharkiv, at least 19 people were injured in residential neighbourhoods over the past two days, including 11 on Tuesday.

Putin escalates pressure

The latest bombardment comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to regain momentum in the more than four-year-old war.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian supply lines, troops and energy infrastructure with long-range drone attacks, putting pressure on Moscow and exposing the conflict more directly to the Russian public.

US-led peace efforts have largely stalled. Zelenskyy has backed calls by US President Donald Trump for an unconditional ceasefire, while Putin has rejected the proposal.

Russia's Defence Ministry said Tuesday's strikes targeted military-industrial facilities in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi and Sumy regions.

Ukraine said residential areas, civilian infrastructure and energy facilities were among the sites hit.

Putin signalled that Russia would continue its attacks, saying a Ukrainian drone strike on a college dormitory in Russian-controlled Starobilsk on 22 May, which Moscow said killed 21 people, had given the conflict “a whole new dimension”.

Ukraine has said the target was a Russian drone pilot training centre.