- Russia launched a massive missile and drone assault on Kyiv, killing at least 12 and wounding over 30.
- Ukrainian defenses intercepted most drones and cruise missiles but failed to stop any ballistic missiles.
- Targets included the Fire Point weapons plant, tied to a corruption scandal, and the Antonov aviation facility.
- Ukraine retaliated with its own drone offensive, launching hundreds of UAVs at Russia and striking oil refineries and terminals in Tatarstan and Krasnodar.
- Kyiv's air defense shortages leave it vulnerable, prompting urgent appeals for Western anti-missile systems.
Russia unleashed a coordinated missile and drone assault on five military-industrial facilities in and around Kyiv early Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said, describing the strikes as retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The overnight bombardment killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 30 others, according to Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry; the toll was still rising, with some outlets reporting as many as 16 dead. The attack involved ground-, air-, and sea-launched missiles alongside attack drones, and Ukrainian air defenses said they intercepted 146 drones and 39 cruise missiles but stopped none of the ballistic missiles used.
Kyiv's defense industrial base takes direct hit
The Russian military said its forces struck an industrial facility belonging to weapons manufacturer Fire Point, a company that assembles and stores boosters for Flamingo cruise missiles and produces components for long- and medium-range drones. The plant has been publicly promoted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky despite its ties to his longtime business associate Timur Mindich, who fled Ukraine amid a $100 million corruption scandal last year.
Also targeted was the Antonov aviation plant, where An-196 Liutyi long-range drones and other UAVs are designed and produced, the ministry said. Russian forces also hit a warehouse used to manufacture and store UAVs, an aviation assembly plant, and a separate arms depot holding vacuum bombs, anti-tank mines and ammunition for Baba Yaga drones.
Fuel depot and logistics hub destroyed outside capital
East of Kyiv, in Brovary, Russian forces destroyed a fuel depot holding up to 8,000 cubic meters of fuel earmarked for the Ukrainian military. Also struck was the Martusovka logistics center in the Kyiv region, used to store dual-use goods including materials for UAV and electronic-warfare production.
Thousands of properties across the Kyiv region lost electricity in the attack, leaving parts of the capital without power overnight. A children's hospital and school were also damaged, and a nearby boiler house that heated surrounding apartment buildings was left in ruins.
Ukraine answers with its own drone offensive
While Russia targeted Kyiv, Ukraine carried out its own major drone raid against Russia overnight, with Russian air defenses reporting 726 Ukrainian UAVs destroyed across 20 regions. Ukrainian forces have also claimed strikes on Russia's Taneco oil refinery in Tatarstan and the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal in Krasnodar, causing fires at both sites.
According to Ukraine's air force, the assault combined dozens of ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles with 168 drones, and Kyiv bore the brunt of it. Zelensky said Russian forces had been "preparing for a long time" for the assault, combining different weapons types "aiming to cause as much damage as possible to civilian infrastructure."
Air defense shortages leave Kyiv vulnerable
Ukrainian officials indicated none of the ballistic missiles used overnight were intercepted — a critical vulnerability. Zelensky attributed the casualties to Kyiv's dwindling stock of air defense interceptors — supplies it depends on Western allies to replenish. "As long as Ukraine does not have enough anti-ballistics, Russia will not seriously think about peace," he wrote on Telegram.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko inspected the damage and appealed for international support: "We need ammunition, anti-missile systems — we need support from our partners," he told the BBC. Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko said Ukraine is "absolutely unprotected" from ballistic missiles. Poland's military said it launched "defensive air operations" over its own airspace during the strikes, and a drone crashed into Romanian territory near the border.
Russian officials describe the intensified strikes as a direct response to Ukraine's own drone incursions, insisting the bombardment targets only military infrastructure and not civilians, even as Ukrainian officials report a mounting civilian toll.
Zelensky's latest appeal for more Western weapons comes as his own government faces a corruption reckoning: former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov has accused Kyiv's leadership of letting graft starve the front lines — an allegation that echoes the scandal already swirling around the Fire Point plant hit in this week's strikes. With no real movement toward a ceasefire and billions in Western aid already committed, what more money and weapons would actually accomplish, beyond prolonging a war neither side seems able to win outright, remains an open question.
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