Russia unleashed a series of large attacks across Ukraine on Wednesday, including a barrage on Kyiv that city officials called the most powerful strike on the capital since the spring.
The deadly attacks come as Ukraine has recently made significant gains in its ongoing counteroffensive against Russian forces.
On Monday, Ukraine officials formally announced that its forces had liberated Robotyne, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region that was said to have played a tactically important role in Russia’s defensive line. The settlement’s liberation came after Ukraine’s military retook control of Urozhaine—a village in the Donetsk region that was key to Russia’s supply line—earlier this month.
Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said Russian combat drones targeted the capital city from various directions before cruise missiles were launched from aircraft during the overnight attack on Kyiv.
“Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring,” Popko wrote on Telegram.
Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine/Getty
Popko said at least two people were killed and three others injured during the attack on Kyiv. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that the assault caused fires and destruction of residential buildings in and around the capital.
The Ukrainian Air Force said the nationwide attacks included 28 cruise missiles launched from Tu-95MS bombers, as well as 16 Shahed-136/131 drones targeting the Kyiv, Cherkasy, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Zhytomyr regions. The air force said all 28 cruise missiles were downed by its defenses, as well as 15 of the drones.
Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian foreign affairs ministries via email for comment.
Meanwhile, Russia was hit on Tuesday night and the early hours of Wednesday with what has been called the biggest drone assault on its territory since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the war in February 2022.
Russian officials blamed Ukraine for drone strikes in the Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, Kaluga, Ryazan and Pskov regions. The raid in Pskov, a northwestern region close to Russia’s borders with the NATO nations Estonia and Latvia, hit an airbase and destroyed or damaged up to seven aircraft.
Airspace over Moscow was closed as a result of the drone attacks, causing Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport to shut down and flight delays at the Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said Crimea was targeted in an unsuccessful drone attack on Wednesday morning.
Russian officials said the country’s military had repelled most of the drones that struck the six regions, and the Russian Defense Ministry said four Ukrainian high-speed military boats had been destroyed in the Black Sea.