At least 12 people are dead and 40 more are wounded after Russia unleashed one of its heaviest overnight attacks on Kyiv in recent months. The strike hit residential districts, warehouses, a medical facility, and an educational institution, according to the city's military administration. Fires were still burning at multiple sites as rescue teams worked through the early hours of Thursday morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the death toll on X, describing a carefully planned assault.

Russia had combined ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and hypersonic weapons with a swarm of 168 drones in a single coordinated wave. Ukraine's air force said its defences managed to down 145 drones and most of the incoming cruise missiles, but none of the ballistic missiles were intercepted — a critical gap that allowed the most destructive warheads to reach their targets. A separate strike in the Brovary district, just outside Kyiv, killed one more man and damaged an industrial facility, regional governor Tymur Tkachenko confirmed. Moscow offered a different framing.

Russia's defence ministry claimed on Telegram that it had struck facilities involved in drone production, a military depot, and a logistics hub — language it routinely uses to justify attacks that Ukrainian and international observers say overwhelmingly hit civilian areas. The four-and-a-half-year war has seen both sides escalate their long-range strikes in recent months, steadily pushing up civilian casualties. The attack triggered immediate responses across NATO's eastern flank. Poland scrambled aircraft and activated air defences near its border with Ukraine.