Russia launched a major overnight missile and drone assault on several Ukrainian cities on the birthday of President Vladimir Putin, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, according to Ukrainian authorities and local reports.
The attacks began late on Tuesday and struck multiple areas across Ukraine, with some of the heaviest casualties reported in Pryluky in the Chernihiv region. A Russian missile hit a residential building in the city, killing at least nine people, including three children. At least 38 people were injured, among them seven children.
The strike caused severe damage to a five-storey residential building, with emergency workers searching through the rubble for possible survivors. Ukrainian officials warned that additional people could still be trapped beneath the collapsed sections of the building.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to the attack in a social media post, describing the destruction in Pryluky as a ‘birthday present’ for Putin. His remarks reflected the sharp political reaction in Kyiv to the timing and scale of the Russian assault.
The Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was also targeted extensively during the night. Explosions were reported across several districts, while fires and heavy smoke were seen in parts of the city. Kyiv authorities said two people were killed in an attack in the Darnytskyi district.
The first major explosions were heard at about 3.15am local time. Earlier, Ukraine’s Air Force had warned that several Russian bombers were moving towards the country’s borders. A second wave of explosions was reported at around 5.15am, roughly two hours after the initial blasts.
Other areas affected by the overnight strikes included Dnipro, Oleksandriia, Zaporizhzhia and Kremenchuk in the Poltava region. The attacks were spread across a number of locations, indicating the broad scale of the operation.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had used a mixture of ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles and attack drones. The combination of different weapons presented a significant challenge for Ukraine’s air-defence network, which has been repeatedly tested during the prolonged conflict.
According to figures released by the Ukrainian military, Russia launched 48 cruise missiles. Of those, 39 were either shot down or neutralised through electronic warfare. Ukraine also reported that 117 of 130 attack drones were destroyed or disabled.
Five ballistic missiles were also reported to have been destroyed or suppressed using electronic countermeasures. Overall, Ukrainian authorities recorded incidents involving Russian missiles and drones at 18 locations.
The figures represent Ukraine’s account of the attack, and battlefield claims from either side cannot always be independently verified.
In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said an unspecified non-residential area in the Obolonskyi district had been struck. A warehouse in the Podilskyi district was also damaged, according to the mayor.
Further damage was reported in Dnipro and Kremenchuk. Zelenskyy said five residential buildings in Dnipro had been damaged by Russian missile strikes, while four multi-storey buildings were affected in Kremenchuk. The attacks in those areas left another two people dead and eight injured.
The latest assault adds to the continuing pattern of missile and drone warfare that has marked the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Large-scale aerial attacks have repeatedly caused civilian casualties and damage to residential and other civilian infrastructure, while Ukraine has sought to intercept incoming weapons through a combination of air-defence systems and electronic warfare.
The human cost of the latest strikes was particularly severe in Pryluky, where children were among those killed and injured. Rescue teams continued working at the damaged residential building as authorities assessed the full extent of the destruction. The casualty figures could change if additional victims are found in the rubble or if more people succumb to their injuries.
