‘Massive’ Russian missile barrage hits Kyiv after Putin orders retaliation for deadly Ukrainian attack

By Tim Lister and Svitlana Vlasova, CNN

(CNN) — At least two people were killed in one of Russia’s biggest aerial assaults on Kyiv during its more than four-year war with Ukraine, officials said Sunday.

The overnight attack on the capital came after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for a deadly Ukrainian attack.

At least two people were killed, and more than 62 injured during a night of attacks that hit various premises across the city, ranging from residential buildings and a student dormitory to a car service center and a shopping mall, according to officials and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Moscow fired 600 drones and 90 missiles at Ukraine overnight, targeting mainly Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, adding that air defenses shot down 604 of the aerial weapons. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described it as “one of the largest” attacks on the capital.

Zelensky confirmed Russia fired a hypersonic “Oreshnik” missile against Bila Tserkva, a city in central Ukraine, referring to a variety of powerful Russian weapon, adding that 83 people were injured across the country.

“Unfortunately, not all the ballistic missiles were shot down. Kyiv suffered the most hits, and it was Kyiv that was the main target of this Russian attack,” he said Sunday.

Tymur Tkachenko, the military administrator of Kyiv, said in a post on Telegram that the capital was under a “massive ballistic attack” and urged all to stay in shelters.

Zelensky referenced a possible strike with Oreshnik missiles earlier Saturday, and the US State Department had said the US Embassy in Kyiv received information that a missile attack could occur “at any time” in the coming hours.

“Our intelligence services reported receiving data, including from American and European partners, about Russia preparing a strike with the Oreshnik missile. We are verifying this information,” Zelensky said on X, adding: “We count on a response from the world – and on a response that is not post factum, but preventive. Pressure must be put on Moscow so that it does not expand the war.”

Kyiv resident Nataliia Zvarych, who took refuge at a metro station, recounted a night of “horror.”

“We walked under the explosions, we saw things flying up there. It was terrifying, scary, we have been sitting here for more than three hours now, listening to the explosions up there,” the 62-year-old financier told the news agency Reuters, decrying Russia’s attack as “horrible.”

Nataliia Shevchenko, a history lecturer at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, urged a more decisive stance from the international community, including NATO countries.

“We still hope that the aggressor will be punished,” the 49-year-old, also hunkering down at the metro station with her son, told Reuters.

The attack comes after Putin accused Ukraine of a “terrorist” act, claiming that Ukrainian drones struck a college dormitory in Starobilsk, a Russian-occupied town in eastern Luhansk on Friday. The Russian president ordered the defense ministry to come up with proposals for a retaliatory response.

Russian state news agency TASS said Saturday that the death toll of “children killed in the Ukrainian drone strike” had risen to 18, citing Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations. A further three people are believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Such a toll from a Ukrainian attack would be very rare so far from the front lines and not targeting any obvious military facility.

Ukraine’s military has rejected Putin’s claim and accused Russian media of circulating “manipulative information” on the attack. It reiterated that it strikes “military infrastructure and facilities used for military purposes.” The military added that among targets struck early Friday was “one of the headquarters of the ‘Rubicon’ unit in the Starobilsk area.”

The elite Rubicon Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies has pioneered Russian drone technology and targeting since it was formed in 2024.

Ukraine has stepped up longer-range drone attacks in recent weeks. It claimed two attacks on Russian military facilities in occupied territory earlier this week.

One wave of strikes hit a Russian drone pilot training camp in the occupied town of Snizhne, killing at least 65 cadets and an instructor on Wednesday night, according to the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces.

Robert Brovdi claimed the strike targeted a 2,484-square-meter complex, which housed drones and explosives as well as a command post.

Footage posted on social media Wednesday night also showed a building ablaze in Snizhne, which CNN has geolocated to the same area as the drone training camp.

Another set of strikes hit a Russian security service headquarters and an air defense system in the Kherson region in occupied Ukraine, killing and wounding almost 100 Russians, Zelensky claimed Thursday.

Ukrainian claims of such high casualty figures are unusual, and CNN cannot independently verify them. CNN approached Russian authorities for comment.

Ukraine has developed an arsenal of mid- and long-range drones capable of deep strikes on Russian military and energy infrastructure.

Zelensky said Saturday that the security services had struck “one of Russia’s important military-industrial enterprises” 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) inside Russia.

The target was a chemical plant in Perm Krai, Zelensky said, that provides a range of products to Russia’s military. He posted video purporting to show smoke rising from the facility.

CNN’s Victoria Butenko, Aleena Fayaz and Max Saltman contributed.

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