Russia unleashes biggest attack yet on Kyiv, kills at least 17, officials say

Kyiv, Ukraine — Russia hit Ukraine’s capital overnight with the biggest attack since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of the neighboring country more than four years ago, Kyiv’s mayor said Thursday. The State Emergency Service said at least 17 people were killed in the capital.

Loud explosions rocked the city for hours and residents took shelter in metro stations and other shelters following a warning of an imminent attack by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials.

The attack with ballistic and cruise missiles and drones damaged buildings and civilian infrastructure across Kyiv. Russia used 74 missiles and 496 drones, Ukraine’s air force said, according to the Reuters news service. 

CBS News’ Aidan Stretch emerged from a shelter Thursday morning in eastern Kyiv to see the remains of a nine-story apartment building brought down by the strikes. Emergency workers dug through the rubble as residents from the area lined up nearby for materials to start patching up their homes.

Damage was recorded in 30 locations across the city, mainly residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said 20 residential buildings were damaged.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed the strike hit what it called key military plants in Kyiv, according to Reuters, and the chief Kremlin spokesman warned there would be more to come.

“Russia will continue to increase pressure on the Kyiv regime in order to achieve our set goals,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about European Union officials saying the bloc would consider yet more sanctions against Moscow over the strikes.

In the wake of the attack, Zelenskyy asked Washington for a license to make Patriot missiles, calling air defense supplies for his country “an absolute necessity.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on its allies to strengthen the country’s air defenses following what he described as a “night of horror” in Kyiv, urging partners not to delay decisions on supplying air defense systems and missiles. Writing on social media, Sybiha said the death toll after the attack may rise as the rescue teams continued their work.

Russia has intensified its attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, even as Ukraine’s own long-range drone campaign against Russian military sites and energy facilities has caused fuel shortages and disrupted supply lines inside Russia.

Sybiha rejected any Russian attempts to justify the overnight strikes as retaliation for Ukraine’s long-range attacks, saying Ukraine was exercising its right to self-defense under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, while Russia remained the aggressor.

“The enemy’s most massive attack”

“It was a terrible night for Kyiv. The enemy’s most massive attack,” the capital’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a social media post. “Damage has been reported in all districts of the city. The most significant destruction was suffered by a residential building in the Darnytskyi district. Part of the building was literally blown away.
A search and rescue operation is underway. People are being searched for under the rubble. Among them — a 15-year-old girl and her family.”

Klitschko said an ambulance station was among the civilian infrastructure sites hit, and that nine ambulances were damaged. 

“Six station employees — medical staff and drivers — were injured. Emergency services continue to work at the sites. In the districts, headquarters are being set up to assist affected residents,” he said.

In the Desnianskyi district, people were trapped inside a damaged nine-story residential building and rescuers headed to the scene, according to the mayor.

In the Holosiivskyi district, a fire broke out on the roof of a 16-story building, according to the Emergency Service.

In the Sviatoshynskyi district, fire broke out in two private residencies, the Emergency Service said. Debris trapped people in one of them, according to the mayor. In the Darnytskyi district, six levels of a nine-story building collapsed after a Russian strike and another five-story residential building was damaged, Klitschko said.