Russia launched a large-scale overnight attack on Ukraine using drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, killing at least eight people and damaging residential buildings, industrial facilities and infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said, according to Reuters.
Two people were killed in Kyiv, four in the northern city of Pryluky and two in the central Poltava region, authorities said.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired 130 drones and 48 cruise missiles, along with ballistic missiles, during the overnight assault. Air defence units intercepted 161 targets, it said.
Kyiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv were among the main areas targeted, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
The scale of the attack forced residents in Kyiv to seek shelter in underground metro stations as warnings of incoming strikes spread through the city. Several loud explosions were heard across the capital overnight, Reuters witnesses reported.
For many residents, the metro offered a sense of safety as missiles and drones approached.
"The metro is better, because we live on the 9th floor of a high-rise, and it's really scary when you're on the 9th floor and missiles are flying at you," a 49-year-old Kyiv resident identified as Lesia told Reuters.
In Pryluky, in the northern Chernihiv region, a Russian missile struck a five-storey residential building, killing at least four people at the scene and injuring around 20 others, regional authorities said. More residents could still be trapped beneath the rubble.
Footage showed rescuers searching through the wreckage and pulling people from the damaged building.
The strikes also caused damage in several other parts of Ukraine. An industrial facility in the southeastern city of Dnipro was hit, while transport infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia and apartment buildings in Kremenchuk were damaged, regional officials said.
Russia's Defence Ministry described the operation as a massive strike on Ukraine's military-industrial facilities. It said its forces used high-precision weapons launched from land, sea and air, alongside drones.
Moscow said the strikes targeted facilities linked to Ukrainian defence production, including sites associated with Fire Point, a Ukrainian defence company that manufactures and stores cruise missiles and medium- and long-range drones. The claims could not be independently verified, Reuters reported.
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The strikes come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that Ukraine had used its first domestically produced ballistic missile in combat. Fire Point is also developing the FP-9 missile, which Zelenskiy said could eventually have the range to reach Moscow.
The latest barrage underscores the continuing pressure on Ukraine's air defences as Kyiv seeks additional systems and ammunition from its allies.
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