Russia unleashes deadly missile and drone barrage on Ukrainian cities

Russia unleashed one of its heaviest strikes of the year on Ukrainian cities, killing at least 15 people and hitting Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa and Kharkiv with more than 40 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 650 drones. The assault left dozens wounded and sent emergency crews scrambling through burned-out apartment blocks and fires in the capital.

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the dead included a 12-year-old child. Rescue workers were still searching high-rise apartment buildings and trying to extinguish fires hours after the attack. In Dnipro, officials said at least three people were killed and five of the injured were in critical condition. Odesa reported eight people killed, underscoring how widely the barrage spread across Ukraine’s population centers.

Ukraine’s air force said it downed or neutralized 31 missiles and 636 drones, but not every incoming weapon was stopped. The scale of the attack made it one of the largest bombardments of the year and one of the deadliest in months, even as Russian forces kept pressure on multiple cities at once.

The strikes landed just days after a 32-hour Orthodox Easter truce announced by the Kremlin and accepted by Kyiv, only to unravel quickly amid mutual accusations of violations. Ukrainian officials said the latest wave showed Moscow was not moving toward restraint, but instead escalating attacks on civilian areas and, increasingly, shifting from mainly nighttime bombardments to daytime strikes that could put even more people in harm’s way.

The attack also sharpened the stakes for Ukraine’s air defenses and for Western military aid, as Russian forces continue to fire missiles and drone swarms faster than air defense systems can intercept them all. At the same time, Ukraine has stepped up its own drone strikes on Russian targets, including oil infrastructure, while U.S.-backed peace talks remain stalled and Moscow shows no sign of easing its territorial and security demands.