Russia launched a large-scale barrage of missiles and drones against several Ukrainian cities and regions on the birthday of President Vladimir Putin, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. The attacks, which began overnight on Tuesday, struck residential buildings and other facilities, with some of the heaviest casualties reported in the northern Chernihiv region.
According to reports, the city of Pryluky in Chernihiv suffered the deadliest attack. A Russian missile struck a residential building there, killing at least nine people, including three children. At least 38 others were injured, among them seven children.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media that Russian forces had destroyed a residential building in Pryluky as a ‘birthday present’ for Putin. He said more people could be trapped beneath the rubble of the five-storey building as emergency workers continued search and rescue operations.
The overnight assault was not confined to Chernihiv. Kyiv was also subjected to a sustained attack, while explosions were reported in Dnipro, Oleksandriia, Zaporizhzhia and Kremenchuk in the Poltava region.
Two people were killed in an attack in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, according to the city authorities. A series of explosions was heard across the capital at around 3.15am local time. The Ukrainian Air Force had earlier warned that several Russian bombers were moving towards the country’s borders, raising concerns that a major aerial attack was imminent.
Explosions in several parts of Kyiv were followed by fires and thick smoke. A second wave of blasts was heard at around 5.15am, roughly two hours after the initial attack. Emergency services were deployed in affected areas as authorities assessed the damage.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had used a combination of ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles and attack drones in the overnight operation. The scale and variety of the weapons involved placed significant pressure on Ukraine’s air-defence systems.
According to figures released by the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 48 cruise missiles, of which 39 were either shot down or neutralised through electronic warfare. Of the 130 attack drones reported to have been launched, 117 were destroyed or disabled. Ukrainian forces also said that five ballistic missiles had been destroyed or suppressed through electronic countermeasures.
The Ukrainian military recorded missile or drone impacts at 18 locations. The figures indicate that the assault was spread across multiple areas rather than being concentrated on a single target.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said an unspecified non-residential area in the capital’s Obolonskyi district had been struck. A warehouse in the Podilskyi district was also damaged.
Damage was reported in other major urban areas. Zelenskyy said Russian missile strikes had damaged five residential buildings in Dnipro and four multi-storey buildings in Kremenchuk. The attacks in those areas left a further two people dead and eight injured.
The latest strikes came amid the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine, in which both sides have repeatedly targeted military, energy and infrastructure facilities. Large-scale Russian aerial attacks have also regularly tested Ukraine’s air-defence network, while Ukrainian authorities continue to urge residents to take shelter during periods of heightened aerial threats.
The death toll and extent of the destruction from the latest barrage could change as emergency teams continue clearing damaged sites and searching for survivors. The casualties in Pryluky, particularly the deaths of children, have added to the growing civilian toll from the prolonged conflict.
