Russian forces have unleashed a major attack on Ukraine in the early hours today, with multiple ballistic missiles targeting the capital Kyiv.
At least 12 people were killed and 33 have been injured in the strikes, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said, as witnesses reported more than a dozen explosions.
Poland said it was activating a range of defensive measures in response to the strikes unfolding across the border, describing them as "preventive military aviation operations".
A children’s hospital in Kyiv was struck in the attack, Klitschko said, while people were trapped in one destroyed residential building and fires broke out in multiple locations.
The attack comes hours after president Vladimir Putin admitted that Ukrainian attacks were causing Russia harm, in statements made on Wednesday.
"Of course, such attacks have not caused, and could not cause, critical consequences. However, they do inflict damage; this is obvious, and we fully understand and acknowledge it," he told a conference of ministers and business leaders on the economy.
Ukraine has upped its long-range attacks on critical energy infrastructure over the last few months.
Key Points
- Major Russian attack on Ukraine kills 12 and injures 33
- Zelensky condemns Russian ‘terror’ after deadly strikes across Ukraine - watch
- Drone crashes in Romanian territory during Russian attack on Ukraine
- Ukraine's parliament approves Yevhenii Khmara as new defence minister
North Korea's Kim Yo Jong denies Zelensky's claim on additional troops deployment
09:10 , Arpan Rai
North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, denied Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's claim that Pyongyang plans to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia to fight for its ally.
Kim Yo Jong, a top official in North Korea's ruling party, said in a statement published by state media KCNA that Zelensky's estimate was "groundless" and "a self-staged incident”.
Zelensky made his claim in a post on X this month, and he called on South Korea to provide support for his country's air defences.
Kim Yo Jong said responsibility for the outbreak and for the prolongation of the Ukraine crisis lay entirely with the United States and the West.
North Korea sent an estimated 14,000 soldiers to Russia's Kursk Region in 2024, under a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty agreed during Russian president Vladimir Putin's June 2024 visit to Pyongyang.
Drone crashes in Romanian territory during Russian attack on Ukraine
08:55 , Arpan Rai
A drone has crashed into Romanian national territory during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, the Romanian defence ministry said this morning.
The drone crashed into an uninhabited area of the Romanian county of Tulcea, the ministry said.
Zelensky says Russians prepared 'for long time' for major overnight attack on Kyiv
08:25 , Arpan Rai
Russian forces had been "preparing for a long time" for the attack that took place in Ukraine overnight, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Russian ballistic missiles killed 12 people and injured more than 30 in Kyiv early on Thursday, officials said.
“It was a massive attack – the Russians had been preparing for a long time, combining different types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones, aiming to cause as much damage as possible to civilian infrastructure,” Zelensky said in his overnight address.
Emergency crews have been working at the sites of Russian strikes since overnight. It was a massive attack – the Russians had been preparing for a long time, combining different types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones, aiming to cause as much damage as possible… pic.twitter.com/zvOkAwgNlf
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 20, 2026
Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant loses external power supply
08:10 , Arpan Rai
The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has switched to emergency diesel generators after damage to a high-voltage line caused the facility to lose external power, the plant management said this morning.
"Plant personnel are monitoring the equipment's operating parameters. All necessary measures to maintain the safe condition of the power units are being taken in full," the Moscow-installed management said, adding that radiation levels were normal.
It is not immediately clear if the overnight barrage of Russian attacks are linked to the power outage at the facility.
The plant, Europe's largest with six reactors, produces no electricity but needs power supplied by two external links to keep nuclear fuel cool.
Russia launched dozens of missiles and 168 drones in overnight attack on Ukraine
07:54 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine's air force says Russia launched dozens of ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles, as well as 168 drones, in its overnight attack on the country.
It said that air defence units downed 145 drones and most of the cruise missiles but none of the missiles that run on ballistic trajectory.
The Kyiv region was the main target of the attack, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia claims it struck drone component facilities and other targets in Kyiv
07:25 , Arpan Rai
Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the surrounding region with airstrikes and drones, hitting facilities producing drone components, a military depot and a logistics hub, among other targets, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.
Moscow has intensified ballistic missile attacks on the capital to constrain Kyiv's air defence stocks.
Kyiv has limited systems capable of intercepting ballistic threats, while supplies of missiles for its US-made Patriot air defence systems remain chronically constrained.
Russian missile barrage across Ukraine's capital kills at least 12 and wounds 33
07:19 , Arpan Rai
A Russian missile barrage overnight has killed at least 12 people in Kyiv as explosions echoed across Ukraine's capital throughout the night, local authorities said.
At least 33 people were wounded, according to Ukraine's Emergency Service. The air raid alert remained active into the early morning hours Thursday.
The strikes hit 12 locations across Kyiv’s Darnytskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, damaging residential buildings, a medical facility and an educational institution.
Emergency crews were at the scene and pulled people out from under the rubble.
North Korea's Kim Yo Jong denies Zelensky's claim on additional troops deployment
06:39 , Arpan Rai
North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, denied Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's claim that Pyongyang plans to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia to fight for its ally.
Kim Yo Jong, a top official in North Korea's ruling party, said in a statement published by state media KCNA that Zelensky's estimate was "groundless" and "a self-staged incident”.
Zelensky made his claim in a post on X this month, and he called on South Korea to provide support for his country's air defences.
Kim Yo Jong said responsibility for the outbreak and for the prolongation of the Ukraine crisis lay entirely with the United States and the West.
North Korea sent an estimated 14,000 soldiers to Russia's Kursk Region in 2024, under a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty agreed during Russian president Vladimir Putin's June 2024 visit to Pyongyang.
Watch: At least five dead as Putin launches ‘massive attack’ on Kyiv
06:11 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine's parliament approves Yevhenii Khmara as new defence minister
06:06 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine's parliament approved the appointment of Yevhenii Khmara as new defence minister.
President Volodymyr Zelensky nominated Khmara, whom he had earlier appointed as acting minister, after the ousting of Mykhailo Fedorov in July.
The appointment was backed by 312 lawmakers, with 226 needed for a majority.
Khmara, a former top special forces operative, takes up the critical defence portfolio amid fresh political turmoil for the president, who had faced weeks of protests over his dismissal of 35-year-old reformer Fedorov.
Russian-annexed Sevastopol shuts off power amid attacks from Ukraine
05:46 , Arpan Rai
Electricity was temporarily shut off this morning in Sevastopol, the biggest city in Russian-annexed Crimea, according to the Moscow-installed governor Mikhail Razvozhayev.
The outage, which he said was necessary to help with an overload on power grids outside of the area and prevent a wider blackout, was scheduled to last for a few hours.
Drone crashes in Romanian territory during Russian attack on Ukraine
05:30 , Arpan Rai
A drone has crashed into Romanian national territory during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, the Romanian defence ministry said this morning.
The drone crashed into an uninhabited area of the Romanian county of Tulcea, the ministry said.
Watch: Zelensky condemns Russian ‘terror’ after deadly strikes across Ukraine
05:12 , Arpan Rai
In photos: Skies turn orange as missiles tear buildings apart in Kyiv
04:40 , Arpan Rai
Poland starts preventive military aviation operations as Russia hits Ukraine
04:16 , Arpan Rai
Poland has launched preventive military aviation operations to protect its airspace amid Russian strikes on Ukraine in the early hours today, the Polish army said in a post on X.
Russia launched ballistic missiles on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in the early hours today, killing at least five people.
Major Russian attack on Ukraine kills five and injures 23
03:53 , Arpan Rai
At least five people were killed and 23 have been injured in Russian ballistic missiles strikes on Kyiv in the early hours today, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The attack has damaged buildings and left parts of the Ukrainian capital without power. A fire broke out after Russia attacked the upper floors of a nine-story residential building, Klitschko said, and people were trapped in another place as Moscow hit non-residential and apartment facilities, warehouses and a children's hospital.
A Reuters witness reported hearing more than a dozen explosions.
In the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital, another person was killed, a local official said separately on Telegram.
The drones that the UK supplies Ukraine following Russia’s threat
03:00 , Maira Butt
Russia has warned of “consequences” following reports that British-built drones were deployed to hit targets on its mainland for the first time.
Ukrainian army sources told The Times that drones made by two British companies have been used in the past six months to attack targets including oil refineries in Volgograd and near Moscow and logistics hubs.
Russia’s embassy to the UK said in a statement on Monday that the reports “confirm that London is deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis” and accused Britain of “seeking to contain Russia and inflict maximum damage on it by proxy”.
The drones that the UK supplies Ukraine following Russia’s threat
Moscow warehouse burns as Ukraine drone crews prepare to strike again
02:00 , Maira Butt
A massive retail logistics centre on the outskirts of Moscow remained in flames on Sunday morning following an overnight strike by waves of Ukrainian drones, sending thick dark smoke into the sky.
Hundreds of miles from the scene, Ukrainian drone operators had barely paused after their night operations before preparing for another attack.
In a sunflower field in southern Ukraine, a small unit of troops gathered around 20 small, plane-like drones packed with explosives, swiftly launching them towards targets in Russia.
Moscow warehouse burns as Ukraine drone crews prepare to strike again
Watch: UK minister hits back after Russia threat over Ukraine’s ‘use of British drones’ in record attacks
01:00 , Maira Butt
Ukraine's parliament approves Yevhenii Khmara as new defence minister
Thursday 20 August 2026 00:01 , Maira Butt
Ukraine's parliament approved the appointment of Yevhenii Khmara as new defence minister on Wednesday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy nominated Khmara, whom he had earlier appointed as acting minister, after the ousting of Mykhailo Fedorov in July.
The appointment was backed by 312 lawmakers, with 226 needed for a majority.
Who is Mykhailo Fedorov? Everything you need to know about Ukraine’s sacked defence minister
Wednesday 19 August 2026 23:00 , Maira Butt
Mikhail Fedorov, 35, is the last remaining minister to have held positions in all of Zelensky’s governments, with the tech-savvy reformer remaining close to the president since his election in 2019.
Who is Ukraine’s sacked defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov?
Zelensky dismisses deputy head of presidential office amid corruption probe
Wednesday 19 August 2026 22:00 , Maira Butt
President Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked his deputy head of the presidential office Iryna Mudra on Wednesday, according to a decree published on the president’s website.
A reason was not given for the dismissal but Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies had said earlier in the day that they had identified a group including a deputy head that they suspected of money laundering.
Ukrainian man arrested over undersea explosions that damaged gas pipelines in 2022
Wednesday 19 August 2026 21:00 , Maira Butt
A Ukrainian man was arrested Wednesday in Croatia in relation to undersea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022, Germany’s federal prosecutor said.
Ukrainian national Vladimir Z., whose last name was not given in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in Pula, in Croatia, by local police carrying out a European arrest warrant.
“Vladimir Z. is a trained scuba diver who was part of a group of individuals who planted explosives on the ‘Nord Stream 1’ and ‘Nord Stream 2’ gas pipelines near the (Danish) island of Bornholm in September 2022,” prosecutors said.
Ukrainian man arrested over undersea explosions that damaged gas pipelines in 2022
Burnham says he backs Ukraine 100% after Moscow’s threat over use of UK drones
Wednesday 19 August 2026 20:00 , Maira Butt
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the UK is continuing to “support Ukraine 100%” after Moscow threatened consequences for the reported use of British drones for strikes deep into Russia.
Russia accused the UK of deliberately escalating the conflict and said the deeper the country’s involvement became, “the higher the price it will pay”.
During a visit to Wolverhampton bus station, Mr Burnham was asked what his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin was in response.
Burnham says he backs Ukraine 100% after Moscow’s threat over use of UK drones
Watch: Ousted Ukraine defence minister calls for presidential election during war
Wednesday 19 August 2026 19:20 , Maira Butt
In pictures: Putin holds meeting in Moscow
Wednesday 19 August 2026 18:50 , Maira Butt
