At least 21 killed in massive Russian strike on Kyiv

At least 21 people were killed and more than 90 others wounded after Russia launched a massive airstrike on the Ukrainian capital, which Moscow said was retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian media described the assault as one of the worst since the war began in 2022.

Russia fired 74 missiles and 496 drones at Ukraine overnight into Wednesday (local time), according to Reuters and the Associated Press. Kyiv city authorities said at least 20 people were killed in the capital alone, with 90 others injured, including children.

Strikes were concentrated heavily on civilian sites, setting a hotel on fire and damaging 20 residential buildings. Damage was confirmed at more than 30 structures in total.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that a six-story apartment building took a direct hit and collapsed, injuring 34 people. He added that some of the wounded remained trapped in the rubble, including rescue workers and drivers who had been stationed at a nearby ambulance base.

Footage obtained by Reuters showed rescue teams working through the debris of a nine-story building at dawn.

Photos circulating online showed fierce flames engulfing the roof of a building on Shevchenko Boulevard in central Kyiv. Reuters witnesses said simultaneous explosions were heard across the city, with windows shattered and vehicles damaged in multiple locations.

In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, a seven-year-old girl was killed and four members of her family were wounded in a Russian guided-bomb attack, regional governor Oleksandr Hanza said.

The Kyiv Independent described the attack as one of the most intense since Russia's invasion in 2022, according to DPA.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it "a night of terror" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, warning that the death toll could rise further depending on ongoing rescue operations.

Air raid sirens sounded across most of Ukraine that day. Residents took shelter in subway stations, carrying children, pets, tents and personal belongings.

Neighboring Poland scrambled fighter jets as a precautionary measure, while Finland briefly imposed a flight restriction zone over the eastern Gulf of Finland before lifting it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had been visiting Ireland, cut his trip short and returned home after warning of "unpleasant information" about an impending large-scale Russian attack. He later said supplying Ukraine with air defense systems was "a top priority" and stressed the importance of pushing through agreements to produce ballistic missile interception systems.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a Telegram post that it had carried out a large-scale strike on Kyiv and other regions using long-range, high-precision weapons and drones.

The ministry said the attack was "retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on Russian civilian infrastructure," adding that it had also hit military airfields in Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk, as well as energy facilities around Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov had briefed President Vladimir Putin on the results of "this large-scale retaliatory strike," and that the attack had been directed "exclusively at military facilities or military-related targets."

In recent weeks, Ukraine has stepped up its offensive by repeatedly striking oil refineries, energy infrastructure and military communications facilities on Russian territory, including in Moscow, using drones.