Russia Unleashes 'Night of Horror' on Kyiv, Killing 13 in Massive Aerial Attack

At least 13 people have been killed as Russia launched a major aerial attack on Kyiv overnight, with several residential buildings set ablaze across the Ukrainian capital.

Another 86 people were injured in the Russian drone and missile barrage. A hotel in Kyiv’s central boulevard was also on fire, officials said.

Moscow said it had hit military and energy facilities around Kyiv, as well as military airports in several other regions, in retaliation for Ukraine's attack on civil infrastructure.

The attack comes hours after president Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia was planning a massive night-time attack and said he was cutting short his visit to Dublin for the start of Ireland's six-month term in the rotating presidency of the EU.

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi had also said Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to find ways in which Russia can launch new offensive operations on Ukraine to capture Kyiv.

These include Russian offensives launched from Belarusian territory to capture the Ukrainian capital and its surrounding areas, Syrskyi said.

As we’ve been reporting, Russia has conducted a massive and deadly attack on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv.

The attack also targeted locations using long-range, high-precision air-, land-, sea-launched weapons and drones, the Russian Defence Ministry has now said in a Telegram post on Thursday.

The ministry added it hit military and energy facilities around Kyiv, as well as military airports in several regions including in Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk - adding that it was retaliation for Ukraine's attack on civil infrastructure.

We’ve just heard from European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who has responded to Russia’s large scale attack on Kyiv.

She said on Thursday she would propose more sanctions against Russia following a new wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine.

“Words of condemnation alone will not stop attacks on Kyiv. Only sustained military support for Ukraine and increased pressure on Moscow can do that,” she wrote on X.

"Today, I will propose to sanction more entities supporting Russia's military-industrial complex in response to the strikes. The more Moscow attacks civilians, the more sanctions must be imposed.”

Russia's Defence Ministry said that its forces had hit what it called key military plants during overnight strikes on Kyiv which left at least 13 dead and dozens injured.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Moscow launched 74 missiles and 496 drones in the attack, which has left at least 86 injured, with the possibility that the casualty toll may yet rise.

Ukrainian forces struck the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez oil refinery in the town of Kstovo in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region overnight, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Thursday.

According to preliminary data, a primary crude oil processing unit was hit, the General Staff said on Telegram, adding that the extent of the damage was being clarified.

Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight at Ukraine, Ukraine's air force said on Thursday.

It said on Telegram that air defence units downed or neutralised 48 missiles and 476 drones, but 25 ballistics missiles and 12 drones hit 33 locations.

The capital Kyiv was the main target of the attack, it said.

The death toll in Russia’s huge attack on Kyiv has increased to 13, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.

Another 86 were injured, he added.

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 across the city.

The Emergency Service says it deployed nearly 500 personnel and 100 units of specialized vehicles, including a helicopter, to deal with the aftermath of the attack.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha has called on Ukraine’s allies to strengthen the country’s air defences following what he described as a “night of horror” in Kyiv, urging partners not to delay decisions on supplying air defence systems and missiles.

"Do not delay decisions on air defence for Ukraine! This is our main request to our partners after Kyiv suffered a night of horror," he said.

Writing on X, 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.

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

Russia has suffered significant military losses in recent months, with casualties occurring at a significantly higher rate than earlier in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

In a new report published on Wednesday, CSIS said Russia has suffered an estimated 1.4 million military casualties, including troops killed, wounded or missing since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The toll is significantly higher than what Kyiv has seen, about 600,000 on the Ukrainian side, the think tank said.

Around 400,000 and 450,000 Russian troops have been killed, compared with 125,000 to 150,000 Ukrainian military deaths, the CSIS said.

Russian military losses were recorded to be around 325,000 in January this year and its monthly losses are now exceeding what it manages to recruit in the armed forces, the CSIS said.

The ratio of Russian to Ukrainian casualties has risen to 8:1 in the first half of this year, up from 2:1 and 3:1 seen initially during the war, it added.