Missile and drone strikes: explosions in kyiv and large drone attack foiled in Moscow

Explosions rang out in kyiv overnight from Saturday to Sunday after a ballistic missile alert was triggered in the Ukrainian capital, an AFP journalist noted. “kyiv is being attacked with ballistic missiles. Stay in shelter!” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram shortly before 3:00 a.m. local time (00:00 GMT).

The capital's military administration reported a fire in a non-residential building in the Obolonsky district. The authorities of Kryvyï Rig, an industrial town in central Ukraine where President Volodymyr Zelensky grew up, also indicated that a missile and drone attack had targeted two industrial companies there. On the Russian side, anti-aircraft defenses shot down at least 38 drones threatening Moscow during the night from Saturday to Sunday, said the mayor of the capital Sergei Sobyanin on MAX messaging.

In recent months, strikes have been ramping up on both sides of the front, four and a half years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in what became Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

Russia fired a record number of missiles at Ukraine in July, according to an AFP analysis of daily Ukrainian air force reports, as kyiv presses US President Donald Trump for more resources to deal with them. According to a report by the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), last month was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since May 2022, with 437 dead and 2,610 injured.

The Ukrainian capital in particular paid a heavy price with at least 54 dead and 202 injured. Russian forces have repeatedly launched massive bombardments of kyiv, using ballistic and cruise missiles.

Since the start of the year, the UN body has recorded 12,477 civilian victims (1,839 dead and 10,638 injured), an increase of 44% compared to the same period last year, and more than double compared to that of 2024. In response to the daily bombings targeting its territory, Ukraine has also intensified its drone attacks against Russia.