Ukraine War: Russia Fires 550 Drones, 11 Missiles at Kyiv

Ukraine War: Russia Fires 550 Drones, 11 Missiles at Kyiv

Russia carried out its largest aerial assault on Kyiv since the start of the full-scale invasion, launching 550 drones and missiles overnight into Friday, according to Ukrainian officials.

The attack occurred just hours after a phone conversation between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which Trump expressed disappointment that Putin was not prepared to end the war in Ukraine.

A woman was killed in Russia following Ukrainian drone attacks, officials said.

The acting governor of Russia’s southern Rostov region said she was killed in a strike on a village not far from the Ukrainian border.

Russia’s overnight air strikes broke another record, Ukraine’s air force said, with 72 of the 550 drones penetrating air defences – up from a previous record of 537 launched last Saturday night.

Air raid alerts sounded for more than eight hours as several waves of attacks struck Kyiv, the “main target of the strikes”, the air force said on the messaging app Telegram.

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky condemned one of the most “demonstratively significant and cynical” attacks of the war, describing a “harsh, sleepless night”.

Noting that it came directly after Putin’s call with Trump, Zelensky added in a post on Telegram: “Russia once again demonstrates that it does not intend to end the war”.

He called on international allies – particularly the US – to increase pressure on Moscow and impose greater sanctions.

Footage shared on social media by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed firefighters battling to extinguish fires in Kyiv after Russia’s large-scale overnight attack.

Ukrainian authorities reported that at least 23 people were injured in the attacks on Kyiv, which also left railway infrastructure damaged. Fires broke out in schools, buildings, and vehicles across the capital. Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, confirmed that the Polish embassy was among the structures affected.

BBC