Russia launches largest sustained aerial attack on Ukraine, Kyiv hit hard

Russia unleashed at least 1,623 drones and missiles over Wednesday and Thursday, including 675 drones and 56 missiles overnight on May 14 and 892 drones the day before, in what appeared to be the largest sustained aerial attack of the war. Ukrainian officials said at least 16 people were killed and more than 100 injured, with Kyiv taking the heaviest as air defenses strained to keep pace.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had been firing “virtually nonstop” for nearly 48 hours and called the barrage a deliberate attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses. He said Ukraine intercepted 94% of the drones and 73% of the missiles, a rate that still left enough weapons to tear into cities, damage energy and housing stock, and force crews into repeated rescue operations. Ukraine’s air force said 652 drones and 41 missiles were intercepted or suppressed in the overnight attack, while 15 missiles and 23 drones struck 24 locations.

In Kyiv’s southeastern Darnytsia district, rescue teams searched through the rubble of a partially collapsed nine-story apartment building as the human toll rose through the day. Zelenskyy said at least 20 buildings in the capital were damaged, including a school and a veterinary clinic, and Ukrainian authorities said 20 locations in Kyiv were attacked. The scale of the destruction showed how a barrage that is not fully penetrated can still overwhelm urban life, leaving residents, first responders and municipal services to absorb repeated shocks.

The assault also spread beyond the capital, with Odesa, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kharkiv among the cities hit over the same period. The strikes followed a three-day ceasefire around Russia’s Victory Day parade that had been brokered by Donald Trump, but the truce was marred by accusations of violations from both sides. The timing added to concerns in Kyiv that any pause in fighting is tactical, not durable, and that Russia is using it to reset for a heavier aerial campaign.

The bombardment came after Vladimir Putin had publicly suggested days earlier that the war might be nearing its end, a claim that now sits in stark contrast to the scale of the attacks. For Ukraine, the immediate question is no longer only how many missiles are shot down, but how long air-defense stocks, exhausted cities and Western backing can withstand a campaign built on near-continuous pressure.