496 drones, 74 missiles: Russia launches deadliest strike on Ukraine this year, at least 27 dead

Russia attack on Ukraine (Zelenskyy X)

Russia launched its deadliest attack on Ukraine's capital this year early Thursday, killing at least 27 people, injuring 91 others, and damaging around 130 buildings across the city.

74 missiles and 496 drones were launched by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian air force said.Thick plumes of smoke blanketed parts of Kyiv while emergency crews worked to extinguish fires and search for survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings, as per Reuters.One of the worst-hit sites was a nine-storey residential building on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, where a missile ripped through the structure, destroying 64 apartments.

Zelenskyy seeks more air defence supportUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cut short his visit to Ireland and returned to Kyiv to inspect the damage. Visiting the partially collapsed apartment building, he blamed delayed deliveries of Western air defence systems for the scale of destruction."It is important that our partners not simply stand by and watch as human lives are being destroyed," Zelenskyy wrote.Ukraine's Air Force said the overnight assault involved an unusually high number of ballistic missiles, while acknowledging that shortages of Patriot interceptor missiles had reduced interception rates.

Russia says it retaliated to Ukrainian attacksMoscow claimed the strikes targeted Ukrainian military facilities, energy infrastructure and airports in Kyiv and other regions, saying the operation was retaliation for recent Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia.Ukraine, earlier, struck a major oil refinery in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region overnight.The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the attacks and indicated that Russia would continue intensifying military pressure to achieve its objectives in Ukraine.Global condemnationThe latest bombardment drew swift international condemnation.UN Secretary-General António Guterres denounced the strikes as part of a "deadly pattern" of attacks on populated areas, while European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc would propose fresh sanctions against entities supporting Russia's military-industrial complex.The attack marks the deadliest strike on Kyiv in 2026 and underscores the intensifying conflict, with both Russia and Ukraine stepping up long-range attacks deep inside each other's territory.