Russia launches massive drone and missile strike on Kyiv, killing four

Kyiv was struck by one of the war’s largest aerial barrages, leaving at least four people dead and dozens wounded as drones and missiles slammed into apartment blocks, shook multiple districts and cut water supply on the city’s left bank. Three of the dead were pulled from the rubble of a partially destroyed residential building, while rescuers kept working in the capital’s Darnytskyi district after part of the structure collapsed.

At least 44 people were injured, including two children, according to the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said damage was recorded across six districts of the capital, underscoring the scale of the overnight assault and the strain on emergency crews trying to search damaged buildings and clear debris.

Ukraine said Russia launched more than 670 attack drones and 56 missiles overnight. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow had fired more than 1,560 drones since the start of Wednesday, a pace that made the assault one of the largest aerial attacks over a two-day period since the full-scale war began. The barrage came after a three-day truce expired on Monday, a pause that was quickly followed by renewed strikes and mutual accusations over violations.

The attack landed just days after Vladimir Putin said on May 9, 2026, that he thought the war in Ukraine was “coming to an end.” The Kyiv strike turned that message on its head. If the Kremlin was trying to suggest that talks or battlefield pressure were moving toward an off-ramp, the scale of the bombardment pointed in the other direction: escalation remained the operative language.

For Ukraine, the timing matters as much as the destruction. Ceasefire talks have remained stalled, and the overnight assault added fresh evidence that peace rhetoric from Moscow is not matched by restraint on the ground. With water systems damaged, families trapped in rubble and rescue teams still pulling people from a collapsed building in Darnytskyi, the strike also carried a message for Ukrainians that the war’s pressure on civilians is far from easing, even as Moscow signals that it may be nearing an end.