Massive Russian missile and drone barrage slams Kyiv ahead of Zelenskyy Trump meeting

Ukraine has been struck by a large scale Russian missile and drone barrage on December 27 as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared to travel to Florida for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. Kyiv’s air force declared a countrywide alert as waves of drones and missiles moved over several regions, with the capital under sustained attack. An air raid alert for Kyiv lasted nearly 10 hours and ended at 11:20 a.m. local time 09:20 GMT.

Mr. Zelenskyy posted on X that the assault involved about 500 drones and 40 missiles and that energy facilities and civilian infrastructure were primary targets. Other tallies varied, with some sources citing nearly 400 drones and 40 missiles. Monitoring channels reported use of high end systems including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, four Iskander ballistic missiles and multiple Kalibr cruise missiles. The Russian army said it used hypersonic missiles and drones to strike infrastructure and energy facilities that it described as “used in the interests of the armed forces of Ukraine,” and to hit military sites.

The human cost and the immediate impact on daily life were acute. Ukrainian authorities reported one death in the Kyiv region and at least 19 wounded in the city, including two children. The strikes cut power and heat to large parts of Kyiv amid sub zero temperatures. Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said roughly a third of the capital was left without heating, and other accounts described outages affecting hundreds of thousands of residents. Emergency shelter warnings were issued and many people sought refuge in underground metro stations.

The timing compounded the significance of the attack. Mr. Zelenskyy is traveling to meet President Trump this weekend at Mr. Trump’s Palm Beach estate for talks that Ukrainian officials say could finalize a U.S backed security guarantee. Mr. Zelenskyy has said a security guarantee agreement is close to completion, casting it as a response to the failures of past assurances. President Trump told Politico that he would review any proposed measures and that, “He doesn’t have anything until I approve it.”

Moscow framed the strikes as a reaction to what it described as Western attempts to undermine its position in negotiations and to elements of a U.S brokered peace plan that Kremlin officials have suggested were unacceptable. The Kremlin said a senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin had discussed U.S proposals with members of the Trump administration after Moscow received documents about a possible peace deal, but it did not disclose Moscow’s assessment.

The December 27 barrage follows an earlier large scale attack on December 23 that launched more than 650 drones and dozens of missiles, a pattern Kyiv and many Western analysts view as an escalation designed to influence diplomacy and degrade Ukraine’s winter resilience. Beyond the immediate humanitarian emergency, the strikes sharpen a dilemma for Washington and European capitals about how to balance intensified deterrence for Kyiv with diplomatic pathways that might reduce further destructive strikes. International observers will be watching whether the meeting in Florida can advance tangible security measures and how Moscow chooses to respond under the pressure of escalating operations on the ground.