Overview
- The barrage that struck Kyiv early Thursday involved roughly 74 missiles and about 496 drones and has left around 30 people dead and about 90–92 injured according to Ukrainian authorities.
- Waves of strikes hit more than 30 sites across the city including multi‑storey apartment blocks that partly collapsed and a damaged Red Cross warehouse that destroyed large stocks of humanitarian supplies.
- Ukrainian officials said an unusually high share of ballistic missiles was used, a type that requires Patriot‑class interceptors to stop reliably, and President Zelenskyy has urgently renewed requests for patrol interceptors and production licences.
- Moscow said the operation was retaliation for recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure while Ukraine rejected that justification and said residential areas were targeted.
- The assault prompted swift international condemnation, fresh proposals for EU sanctions on firms tied to Russia’s defence industry and heightened diplomatic pressure ahead of next week’s NATO summit.