Russian missiles and drones hammered Kyiv and more than a dozen other Ukrainian regions overnight into Wednesday, killing at least 19 civilians and wounding roughly 60, Ukrainian officials said.
The barrage landed on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday, a timing Ukrainian leaders called deliberate.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned the day before that intelligence showed Moscow was building up for a “massive” strike. Ukraine could not stop it entirely. Without ammunition for its US-made Patriot air defense systems, the country cannot intercept Russian ballistic weapons, officials say. It is now racing to develop faster interceptors to catch Moscow’s new jet-powered drones.
“The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively,” Zelensky said on social media.
The deadliest single hit destroyed an apartment block in Pryluky, in the northern Chernihiv region. Interior Minister Ihor Vyhivskyi said 13 people died there, including four children, with about 50 wounded. Deaths were also reported in Kyiv itself and in Kremenchuk, in the Poltava region, where two people were killed and seven injured, according to Vitalii Diakivnych, head of the regional military administration. Rescue operations were continuing there.
“That is exactly what the enemy is counting on. For us to be afraid to fall asleep. To let our children out of our sight. To plan anything. So that everyone thinks: next time it could be my address,” Diakivnych said.
Ukraine struck back. Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukrainian forces targeted two oil facilities and a training ground in Russia’s Perm, Samara, and Astrakhan regions. He also posted images of what he said was an oil tanker burning in the Black Sea near Sochi, though the images could not be independently verified. Some Russian online media carried the same photos late Tuesday. Unconfirmed reports said the vessel was carrying oil from Novorossiysk to India and was hit by Ukrainian sea drones.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its overnight strike targeted industrial facilities involved in missile and drone production and storage across Ukraine. The ministry added that port and ship repair facilities in the southern Odesa region and ships carrying cargo for the Ukrainian military were also hit. Russian officials made no immediate comment on Ukraine’s retaliatory strikes.
“Russian ballistic missiles remain the greatest challenge. And air defense packages for us right now are a vital necessity,” Zelensky said. Ukraine is searching worldwide for available Patriot missiles, which are in short supply due to the Iran war.
The aerial exchanges reflect a long-range war that has intensified as ground forces remain largely deadlocked more than four and a half years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion. The bombardments are hurting Russia but threaten to be ruinous for smaller Ukraine. US-led peace efforts appear unlikely to bring short-term relief, with only the possibility of low-level technical talks still under discussion. Western analysts say Putin is pressing ahead believing Ukrainians will buckle and Western support will falter.
Ukraine is developing a new generation of interceptors fast enough to catch Moscow’s high-flying jet-propelled drones.