Russian forces launched a sweeping barrage of missiles and drones across Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least six people and damaging infrastructure and residential areas in several regions, Ukrainian officials said, in one of the largest air assaults in recent months.
Authorities said the overnight attack targeted locations around the capital and across multiple provinces, with air defenses scrambling to intercept hundreds of incoming projectiles.
Five people died in the Kyiv region, located outside Kyiv, where officials said strikes damaged homes, schools and businesses while also hitting key energy facilities.
Fifteen people were wounded in the attacks, emergency services reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched a large-scale strike involving approximately 430 drones and 68 missiles, many of which were intercepted by Ukrainian air defense systems.
The barrage extended beyond the capital region, with attacks also reported in Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Dnipro region, and Mykolaiv region.
Later Saturday, officials confirmed another deadly strike in southeastern Ukraine.
Ivan Fedorov said Russian guided bombs hit a residential area in Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and injuring three others.
Video captured by Reuters showed emergency crews working among collapsed walls, twisted metal and shattered apartment balconies as rescue teams searched through debris.
Windows were blown out across several buildings, leaving glass scattered through residential streets.
Residents described the sudden violence as explosions ripped through their neighborhoods.
Olha Kiyashko, 65, said the force of the blast destroyed windows throughout her apartment.
“The second attack was very strong,” she told Reuters. “The kitchen window flew out, and the living room and bedroom windows too. Everything roared. I ran and was slightly injured.”
Kiyashko said years of war have drained the resilience of many Ukrainians.
“I’ve got no strength left,” she said. “They took away the years we could have lived peacefully — the years we counted on. Our health is gone.”
Another resident, Natalia Fetko, whose apartment building suffered damage, said the attacks reinforce a belief among many Ukrainians that Moscow has no intention of halting the war.
“There’s no way Russia will stop,” she said. “Nothing is enough for them.”
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry of Ukraine said the strikes and accompanying shelling left consumers in six regions without electricity.
Russian attacks have frequently focused on Ukraine’s power grid, particularly during winter months, when outages can have severe humanitarian consequences.
Large areas of major cities have previously been left without heat or electricity as Russian forces targeted substations, power plants and transmission networks.
Officials say the strategy aims to weaken civilian morale and strain Ukraine’s economy as fighting continues along the front lines.
Zelenskyy suggested the scale of Saturday’s assault reflects Moscow’s attempt to capitalize on shifting global attention.
The conflict in the Middle East involving Iran has dominated international headlines in recent weeks, potentially diverting diplomatic focus from the nearly four-year war in Ukraine.
“Russia will try to exploit the war in the Middle East to cause even greater destruction here in Europe, in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on the social platform X.
The Ukrainian leader renewed calls for allies to increase the production and supply of air defense systems, warning that stockpiles of interceptors are dwindling as Western partners respond to other regional conflicts.
Ukrainian forces have relied heavily on Western-supplied air defense systems to intercept Russian drones and missiles.
But defense officials say prolonged combat has steadily depleted reserves of interceptor missiles, particularly as the United States and allied countries also deploy air defenses to counter Iranian attacks in the Gulf region.
The situation has heightened concern in Kyiv about the sustainability of Ukraine’s defensive capabilities if the conflict drags on.
Saturday’s attack also prompted heightened security measures in neighboring Poland, a member of the NATO.
Polish authorities said fighter jets were scrambled to protect national airspace during the assault.
The military later confirmed that no Russian missiles or drones crossed into Polish territory.
Such precautionary measures have become common when large Russian barrages occur near NATO borders.
Meanwhile, Moldova lodged a protest after officials said a Russian drone entered its airspace near the Ukrainian border.
Moldova’s Foreign Ministry said the incursion posed a risk to civilian safety and undermined regional stability.
Authorities did not indicate whether the drone caused damage or casualties.
The scale of the latest Russian bombardment underscores how the war in Ukraine has increasingly shifted toward long-range air strikes and infrastructure attacks.
While front-line battles continue in eastern Ukraine, aerial assaults allow Moscow to apply pressure across the country without committing additional ground forces.
For Ukraine, defending against such attacks requires vast quantities of sophisticated air defense missiles — systems that are expensive and difficult to replenish quickly.
The strikes also illustrate how global geopolitical tensions are interconnected.
With Western attention and military resources partly diverted to the Middle East conflict involving Iran, Kyiv fears its war effort may receive less urgency from allies.
At the same time, Russia may view the situation as an opportunity to intensify pressure, testing Ukraine’s defenses while international diplomacy focuses elsewhere.
Despite repeated diplomatic initiatives backed by the United States and European allies, the conflict shows little sign of ending.
As long as both sides continue to escalate air attacks and strategic strikes on infrastructure, analysts say the war is likely to remain a prolonged and grinding confrontation shaping Europe’s security landscape for years to come.
