The Kyiv region was pounded with hundreds of drones and missiles overnight and into Sunday in a mass bombardment of Ukraine’s capital and surrounding area.
The fatal attack came after Vladimir Putin vowed to retaliate for the strikes on a student dormitory on Friday.
Russia struck the region with a powerful Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile, which Putin has claimed is immune to any missile defence system.
At least four people have died, and more than 80 have been injured in the attack, which targeted multiple structures, including residential buildings and schools.
Russia launched 600 strike drones and 90 air, sea and ground-launched missiles, with Ukrainian air defences destroying and jamming 549 drones and 55 missiles.
Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, calling the Russian leader “unhinged”.
He wrote on X: “Putin can’t even pronounce the word ‘hurrah’ clearly anymore – slurs and mumbles – yet he is still vanquishing residential buildings with his missiles. Launched three Russian missiles against a water supply facility. Burned down a market. Damaged dozens of residential buildings. Hit several ordinary schools. Launched his “Oreshnik” against Bila Tserkva.
“They really are unhinged. It is important that this does not pass without consequences for Russia.”
The head of Kyiv’s military administration said damage was recorded in 40 locations across several districts of the capital, as fire raged into the morning.
It comes after Putin denounced the drone strike on a college dormitory in Starobilsk, in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, which Moscow says killed 21 people and injured 42.
The Russian leader blamed the strike on Kyiv on Friday and ordered his military to submit its proposals for retaliation.
However, Ukraine has denied targeting the dorm, saying it had struck an elite drone command unit in the area.
At a UN Security Council emergency meeting held at the request of Russia, Ukrainian ambassador Andrii Melnyk rejected his Russian counterpart’s accusations of war crimes, calling them a “pure propaganda show”. He said Friday’s operations “exclusively targeted the Russian war machine.”
Russia’s overnight attack targeted a five-story residential building, which was hit in Kyiv’s Shevchenko district, causing a fire and killing one person.
A school building that had people sheltering inside was also damaged, according to mayor Vitalii Klitschko. Local authorities reported that supermarkets and warehouses across the city were also hit.
Kyiv resident Svitlana Onofryichuk, 55, who has worked in a market that was damaged, said the large-scale attack meant she would likely have to relocate.
“It was a terrible night, and there had never been anything like it in the entire war.
“I am very sorry that I have to say goodbye to Kyiv now, I am not staying there anymore, there is no possibility,” she added. “My job is gone, everything is gone, everything has burned down.”
The European Union’s foreign policy chief said the attack was a display of “reckless nuclear-brinkmanship”.
Kaja Kallas said: “Russia hit a dead-end on the battlefield, so it terrorises Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centres. These are abhorrent acts of terror meant to kill as many civilians as possible.
“Moscow reportedly using Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missiles – systems designed to carry nuclear warheads – is a political scare-tactic and reckless nuclear-brinkmanship.”
Ms Kallas said foreign ministers would discuss how to “dial up the international pressure on Russia.”
World leaders have criticised the attack, with German chancellor Friedrich Merz hitting out at Russia’s use of the Oreshnik missile system.
“The German government strongly condemns this reckless escalation. Germany continues to stand firmly by Ukraine,” he wrote on X.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said Russia was “prolonging human suffering and doing nothing to change the fact that Russia will lose this war.”
Russia has already attacked Ukraine twice with the Oreshnik missiles, targeting the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024 and the western Lviv region in January. Putin has boasted that the missile streaks at 10 times the speed of sound.
