One six people are dead and dozens are injured in the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine.
The attack began at around 1.30 am local time and continued for several hours. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 41 missiles and 125 attack drones, with most of them directed towards Kyiv and the surrounding region.
Emergency services there say fires were caused in five regions of the city, with damage to residential buildings, office and industrial sites. Several people were rescued from burning buildings in the Sviatoshynskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts. One person was later found dead.
Fires were also reported in Solomyanskyi, Desnianskyi and Dnipro.
Russia's defence ministry claimed the attack on Kyiv had targeted sites linked to the Ukrainian military.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said most of the missiles and drones had been directed at the capital.
“In total, over the course of this week, Russia has used around 1,450 attack drones, more than 1,640 guided aerial bombs, and 99 missiles of various types against Ukraine,” he wrote in an update on the social media platform, X.
The overnight bombardment came a day after a large-scale drone strike by Ukraine hitting targets inside Russia, targeting a number of warehouses and an oil facility.
It is the latest in a series of large-scale Russian attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, as Ukraine faces continuing pressure on its air-defence supplies.
Patriot systems are Ukraine’s most effective means of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles, but Kyiv has repeatedly warned that it does not have enough interceptor missiles.
US President Donald Trump said earlier this month that Washington would grant Ukraine a licence to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors. However, details of where and when production could begin remain unclear.
