Russia Unleashes Massive Overnight Attack On Kyiv With 700 Drones And 90 Missiles

Russia carried out one of the most intense air attacks of the war on Kyiv overnight, launching more than 700 drones and over 50 missiles that shook central districts, damaged homes and public buildings, and left at least two people dead and 56 injured, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Ukraine’s Air Force said the assault included around 600 strike drones alongside 90 missiles fired from air, sea and ground platforms. Air defence units reported destroying or jamming 549 drones and 55 missiles, and said about 19 missiles malfunctioned before reaching their intended targets.

Russia Ukraine Kyiv Oreshnik missile assault details

Russian state media later reported that the attack involved four missile types: Oreshnik, Iskander, Kinzhal and Zircon. Interfax cited the Russian Defence Ministry as saying the overnight strikes hit Ukrainian military command centres, air bases and facilities linked to Ukraine’s military industrial sector, while adding that Reuters could not independently verify these battlefield claims.

Local officials in Kyiv reported damage at roughly 40 locations across the capital. Residential blocks, schools, supermarkets and warehouses were among the sites hit. In the Shevchenko district, Ukraine’s state emergency service said a five storey apartment building caught fire after a strike, killing one person, while Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko reported a school was damaged as civilians sheltered inside.

Russia Ukraine Kyiv Oreshnik missile scale and impact

Dramatic footage posted online showed a cruise missile slamming into central Kyiv, sending thick smoke above the skyline and triggering loud blasts near government offices and nearby housing. Officials and witnesses said the bombardment ranked among the heaviest combined drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital since the full scale invasion began.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia used the hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile in the overnight strike. In a Telegram post, Zelenskyy stated that the missile hit Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region, although Ukrainian authorities had not yet confirmed what specific site Russia aimed to destroy.

Ukraine’s Air Force noted that one medium range ballistic missile was launched from Russia’s Kasputin Yar site in the Astrakhan region, a location already associated with Oreshnik missile tests. Officials in Kyiv did not formally confirm that this missile was an Oreshnik model, but had previously warned that such a launch was possible.

Russia Ukraine Kyiv Oreshnik missile explanations and claims

Russia’s Defence Ministry said the overnight strikes were carried out using four types of missiles, including the hypersonic Oreshnik system, and described the operation as a response to what Moscow called Ukrainian attacks on civilian sites inside Russia. Officials in Moscow said every designated target was hit successfully.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously claimed the Oreshnik missile reaches speeds of up to ten times the speed of sound and can pierce underground bunkers located “three, four or more floors down.” Putin has also said the missile cannot be stopped by missile defence systems and that several Oreshnik missiles with conventional warheads could cause destruction similar to a nuclear strike.

According to Ukrainian officials, Russia first used the multiple warhead Oreshnik missile against the city of Dnipro in November 2024. The weapon was later employed against targets in the western Lviv region earlier this year, adding to Ukrainian concerns about its role in future attacks on urban areas.

Russia Ukraine Kyiv Oreshnik missile attack eyewitness accounts

Residents across Kyiv described fear and chaos as explosions echoed through the night and air raid sirens sounded repeatedly. Many people spent hours in underground shelters and metro stations while debris fell in several districts and emergency crews struggled to reach fires and damaged buildings.

Kyiv resident Svitlana Onofryichuk, 55, said the workplace was destroyed in the attack and described the experience as unlike anything seen so far in the conflict. “It was a terrible night, and there had never been anything like it in the entire war,” Svitlana Onofryichuk said.

Svitlana Onofryichuk said there was no longer any chance to remain in Kyiv after the destruction. “I am very sorry that I have to say goodbye to Kyiv now, I am not staying there anymore, there is no possibility,” Svitlana Onofryichuk added. “My job is gone, everything is gone, everything has burned down.”

Another Kyiv resident, 74 year old Yevhen Zosin, described how a blast wave tore through the apartment. “Then there was another explosion and she and I were thrown back like a pin by the shock wave. We both survived, she and I. My apartment was blown to pieces,” Yevhen Zosin said.

The latest barrage against Kyiv, involving large numbers of drones alongside hypersonic and other missiles, underlined the continuing intensity of the conflict and added to the death toll and destruction in the capital, while questions remained over the precise targets near Bila Tserkva and the full extent of damage across the wider region.