Russia launches major attack across Ukraine, killing nine people

Russia unleashed air attacks on several of Ukraine’s biggest cities, including Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 60, officials said, after days of warnings that Moscow was preparing a large-scale assault.

The strikes came as the war, now more than four years old, continues to batter critical infrastructure on both sides. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power network and other vital facilities, while Ukraine has intensified attacks this year on Russian oil sites. Both sides say they do not deliberately strike civilians, though casualties have occurred.

In the southeastern city of Dnipro, five people were killed and 25 were wounded in a Russian missile and drone attack, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on the messaging app Telegram.

All of the injured were being treated in hospital and were in moderate condition, he said, alongside photographs showing shattered residential buildings, burned-out cars and a damaged children’s playground.

In Kyiv, a suspected missile strike hit a 24-storey apartment building, causing part of it to collapse and likely trapping residents beneath the rubble, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Thousands of residents took shelter in subway stations

He said a nine-storey apartment block was among other buildings set on fire by what appeared to be falling missile debris.

“In the Obolon district, cars are burning after being struck by falling missile debris,” Mr Klitschko said.

“There are also fires at two locations in open areas, including one near a kindergarten.”

Witnesses said thousands of residents poured into Kyiv’s subway system for safety, some carrying mattresses and personal belongings, while the thud and crack of air defence systems echoed overhead as they tried to fend off the attack.

Warnings of a major attack

Air raid sirens sounded across much of the country early in the day, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed warnings the night before that a major strike could be imminent.

“Intelligence warnings regarding Russian strikes remain in effect. A massive strike is possible. They have prepared one,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

“Our defenders are ready 24/7 to the fullest extent possible with the supplies currently available.”

Last week, Russia said it planned “systematic strikes” on targets in Kyiv tied to the Ukrainian military as well as decision-making centres, and advised foreigners to leave the city.

Moscow said the move was retaliation for a drone strike last month on a dormitory in the Russian-held Ukrainian region of Luhansk that killed 21 people. Ukraine denied carrying out that attack.

In Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a child was among 10 people injured in drone and missile strikes, according to a post on Telegram.

In Russia, the Ilsky oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region caught fire following a drone attack, local authorities said on Telegram.

Authorities in Sevastopol, the Russian naval fleet base in occupied Crimea, also said air defence systems were responding to drone attacks over the city.

Reuters could not independently verify all the reports.

The war in Ukraine has raged on since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Attempts to bring the conflict to an end have shown little momentum, with the administration of US President Donald Trump concentrating on conflicts in the Middle East.