Russian forces launched an unprecedented aerial assault on Ukrainian cities overnight, firing 367 drones and missiles, the heaviest attack of the war to date. This bombardment, which included the capital Kyiv, resulted in the deaths of at least 12 individuals and left dozens more injured, officials stated.

The dead included three children in the northern region of Zhytomyr, local officials there said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the United States to take a definitive stance against Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin. Since President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. has adopted a more reserved public approach towards Russia.

“The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,” he wrote on Telegram.

In Kyiv, Tymur Tkachenko, who oversees the city’s military administration, reported that 11 people sustained injuries due to the drone attacks. While there were no fatalities in the capital itself, officials confirmed that four people lost their lives in the surrounding region.

This was the second large aerial attack in two days. On Friday evening, Russia launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv in waves that continued through the night.

In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said early on Sunday that drones hit three city districts and injured three people. Blasts shattered windows in high-rise apartment blocks.

Strikes were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and other cities. (Reuters/Thomas Peter)

Drone strikes killed a 77-year-old man and injured five people in the southern city of Mykolaiv, the regional governor said. He published a picture of a residential apartment block with a large hole from an explosion and rubble scattered over the ground.

In the western region of Khmelnytskyi, many hundreds of kilometers away from the frontlines of fighting, four people were killed, and five others wounded, according to the governor. 

“Without pressure, nothing will change and Russia and its allies will only build up forces for such murders in Western countries,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram.

“Moscow will fight as long as it has the ability to produce weapons.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry reported that its air defence units had intercepted or destroyed 95 Ukrainian drones over a four-hour period. The Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said 12 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted on their way to the capital.