KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv early Friday killed at least four people and injured 20 others, city mayor Vitali Klitschko said. It was part of a wider overnight assault that became the latest in a series of large-scale attacks targeting regions across Ukraine.
Klitschko said search and rescue operations were underway at several locations.
Multiple explosions were heard for hours in the capital, Kyiv, where falling debris set off fires across several districts as air defense systems attempted to intercept incoming targets, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration.
“Our air defense crews are doing everything possible. But we must protect one another — stay safe,” Tkachenko wrote on Telegram, urging people to seek shelter.
Fourteen-year-old Kyiv resident Vitalina Vasylchenko sheltered in a parking garage with her 6-year-old sister and their mother after an explosion blew one of their windows off its hinges.
“I heard a buzzing sound, then my dad ran to me and covered me with his hand, then there was a very loud explosion,” she said. “My whole life flashed before my eyes, I already thought that was it. I started having a panic attack... I’m shocked that I’m alive.”
Ukraine’s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, called for a strong international response to Russia’s latest overnight attack, saying the assault violated basic human rights.
“Russia is acting like a terrorist, systematically targeting civilian infrastructure,” Lubinets wrote on Telegram. “The world must respond clearly and take concrete steps, including condemning the aggressor’s actions.”
Authorities reported damage in several districts in Kyiv, and rescue workers were responding at multiple locations.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said three emergency workers were killed in Kyiv while responding to the aftermath of Russian strikes. “They were working under fire to help people,” the ministry said in a statement.
In Solomyanskyi district, a fire broke out on the 11th floor of a 16-story residential building. Emergency services evacuated three people from the apartment, and rescue operations were ongoing. Another fire broke out in a metal warehouse.
Tkachenko said the metro tracks between two stations in Kyiv were damaged in the attack, but no fire or injuries occurred.
More than 2,000 households in Kyiv’s eastern bank remained without electricity Friday following the overnight Russian attack, the Kyiv City Administration said.
The attack targeted at least six regions across Ukraine, leaving a trail of civilian injuries, damaged infrastructure and disrupted utilities.
The number of people injured in a Russian attack on the western city of Ternopil early Friday rose to 10, including five emergency workers, regional governor Viacheslav Nehoda said. The strike damaged industrial and infrastructure facilities, left parts of the city without electricity, and disrupted water supplies.
Three people were injured in Ukraine’s central Poltava region following a Russian attack there that damaged administrative buildings, warehouses and a cafe, regional head Volodymyr Kohut said. Fires caused by the strike have been extinguished, and debris also fell on a private home.
Russian forces also struck the Khmelnytskyi region overnight, damaging a private residential building, outbuildings, a fence and several vehicles, regional governor Serhii Tiuryn said.
Meanwhile, air defense forces shot down three Russian missiles over the western Lviv region overnight, regional head Maksym Kozytskyi said.
In northern Chernihiv region, a Shahed drone exploded near an apartment building, shattering windows and doors, according to regional military administration chief Dmytro Bryzhynskyi. He added that explosions from ballistic missiles were also recorded on the outskirts of the city.
The nighttime attack came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace, in comments that were a remarkable detour from Trump’s often-stated appeals to stop the three-year war.
Trump spoke as he met with Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who appealed to him as the “key person in the world” who could halt the bloodshed by pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 174 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions early Friday. It added that three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea.
