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Russia Launches Massive Missile and Drone Barrage on Kyiv, Killing 2 and Injuring 80+

Russia Launches Massive Missile and Drone Barrage on Kyiv, Killing 2 and Injuring 80+
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Russia launched one of the largest combined missile and drone barrages of the war against Kyiv overnight into Sunday, firing about 90 missiles and 600 attack drones, Ukrainian officials said, in strikes that killed at least two people and injured more than 80 in the capital and surrounding region.theguardian +1 The assault, which began shortly after 1 a.m. local time, shook central Kyiv and caused damage in “every district of the city,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.theguardian +1

How the Overnight Attack Unfolded

Ukraine’s air force reported that Russian forces used a mix of cruise, ballistic and hypersonic weapons, including the Oreshnik ballistic missile, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said struck the town of Bila Tserkva in Kyiv region — the third reported use of the system in Ukraine.understandingwar +1 Air defenses claimed to have shot down or jammed 549 drones and 55 missiles, while around 19 missiles reportedly failed before reaching targets.wboc

Despite those interceptions, officials said more than 40 locations in Kyiv were hit, with damage spanning residential blocks, a market, schools, shops, offices, a supermarket, a water facility and the headquarters of the national postal service Ukrposhta.theguardian +2 Facades of multi-storey apartment buildings were ripped away in several districts, and fires broke out at commercial sites, including a trade center, as rescuers worked through the morning to pull people from debris.theguardian +1

Klitschko said two people were confirmed dead in the capital, with at least 56 injured and 30 hospitalized, while other Ukrainian outlets cited broader tallies of more than 80 injured across the city and region as casualty figures continued to evolve.theguardian +2 “It was a terrible night for Kyiv,” the mayor said as emergency crews battled multiple blazes.theguardian

Retaliation Message and Global Alarm Over Escalation

Moscow framed the barrage as punishment for a recent Ukrainian drone strike on a dormitory in Russian-occupied Luhansk, vowing “inevitable and severe punishment” for those it blamed for the attack.euronews +1 Kyiv rejected the accusation of targeting civilians, saying its forces struck a Russian military drone command site, and has long accused Russia of using claims of retaliation to justify strikes on cities far from the front line.understandingwar +1

The use of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile, which Russia says can carry nuclear or conventional warheads and is difficult to intercept, triggered fresh concern among Ukraine’s allies about qualitative escalation.understandingwar +1 Zelensky argued that employing such weapons against a major European capital “sets a global precedent for other potential aggressors,” and renewed calls for stronger air defenses and “preventive” international responses.cbsnews +1 Poland, a NATO member bordering Ukraine, scrambled military aircraft as the attack unfolded, though it reported no violation of its airspace.theguardian +1 The UN condemned strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure, warning that the war “is becoming deadlier by the day” amid a surge in large-scale aerial attacks this month.unn

The Bigger Picture

The overnight assault on Kyiv capped a May marked by some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, including earlier strikes that flattened an apartment block in the capital and massive drone salvos across the country.unn As Ukraine presses its own long-range drone campaign against Russian military and energy targets, both sides have pushed warfare deeper into each other’s rear, increasingly drawing civilians into the crossfire. The latest attack underscored how quickly the conflict’s technological and geographic boundaries can shift — and how dependent Ukraine’s largest population centers remain on the capacity and political will of its partners to keep air defenses stocked and upgraded.

theguardian Reuters; cbsnews The Guardian; understandingwar DW; euronews CBS News; wboc Kyiv Independent; unn UN News.