Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with drones and ballistic missiles in the early hours of Saturday, killing at least three people in central Kiev as part of a broader offensive targeting towns and cities across the country, officials said.
As air raid sirens blared and emergency services scrambled to search for the dead and injured, it was a frighteningly familiar routine in a country that has suffered relentless Russian bombing for nearly three years. The Russian government claimed the attacks were in retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory that appear to have escalated in recent weeks.
Ukraine’s air force announced that four ballistic missiles and 39 attack drones were launched in the attack, and two of the ballistic missiles were shot down in the Kiev region. Although the city is under near nightly drone attacks, ballistic missile launches targeting the capital are less frequent.
The pre-dawn attack burst a water main near the city center, causing water to cascade onto the streets surrounding the dilapidated facade of Lukianiwska metro station. Nearby, smoke billowed from a charred van containing the charred bodies of at least two people.
A fire broke out deep inside an industrial building across the street, and some firefighters were trying to pull debris out of a heavily damaged McDonald’s storefront. Others noted huge chunks of glass, debris and insulation covering the sidewalk outside the subway station. This is usually where residents seek safety in the event of an attack.
Investigators paced up and down the street, reaching into the rushing water to look for bits of debris, and some shop owners tried to break through the police cordon.
“It’s very scary, because this place keeps coming under attack over and over again,” said Yana, 30, who only gave her first name. “Some things get intercepted, and some things always get through.”
When the water subsided and the sun rose, we saw a large crater in the middle of the road. Air force spokesman Yuri Ifnat told Ukraine’s Pravda news agency that one of the missiles was shot down at low altitude, which could help explain the extensive damage to streets and surrounding buildings.
Ukrainian air defense teams spent hours tracking and attempting to shoot down attack drones over the country’s skies. Russia has been using drones to attack targets and deplete air defense teams, sending swarms of drones into Ukraine almost every night for months. Many are “dummy” drones without warheads, intended to overwhelm mobile air defense teams on 24-hour alert.
Kiev is seeking to secure more advanced air defense systems to counter cruise and ballistic missiles, which are more lethal and expensive to produce. Ballistic missiles move at high speeds, which can make them difficult to intercept by air defense systems.
On Saturday, an air raid warning had just been lifted in Kiev shortly before 6 a.m., and thuds could be heard throughout the city. A few seconds later, the air raid siren started blaring.
Authorities initially said four people were killed, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later revised the death toll to three and said three others were injured in the attack.
Another airstrike in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia killed one person and injured at least 12 others, authorities said. They said industrial buildings were damaged, along with homes, shops and churches.
Zaporizhia has come under heavy attack in recent weeks, including strikes this month that killed 13 civilians and injured at least 110, Ukrainian officials said.
On Saturday, the death toll from the previous day’s Russian missile attack in Zelenskiy’s hometown of Kryvyy Rih in central Ukraine rose to five.
The United Nations last week estimated that civilian casualties will increase by 30% in 2024 compared to the previous year as Russia seeks to attack Ukraine into submission.
Zelenskiy expressed his condolences to the victims of Kiev and Zaporizhzhia and issued familiar phrases calling on allies to come to their aid in the face of Russian aggression.
“All those supporting the Russian state in this war must face pressures as impactful as this attack,” he said in a statement. “We can only achieve this by uniting with the whole world.”
As casualties mount after nearly three years of war, Ukraine is building up its stockpile of missiles and long-range drones in preparation for a counterattack. Ukraine has stepped up operations in recent weeks targeting oil and gas facilities deep inside Russia in an attempt to stall Russia’s war machine within its territory.
The attacks continued on Saturday, with the Ukrainian military saying it had attacked an oil depot in the Tula region south of Moscow. There were also reports of strikes in the Kaluga region, about 160 miles southwest of Moscow.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that its air defense forces intercepted 46 Ukrainian drones overnight, five over the Tula region and seven over the Kaluga region. He did not comment on the damage.
The ministry said in a separate statement that the attack on Kiev was carried out in response to attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region.
Long aimed at limiting Moscow’s ability to attack Ukrainian cities, attacks on Kiev inside Russia have become more serious in recent weeks. Ukraine’s military is struggling on the domestic battlefield, and in Washington, as President Donald J. Trump approaches his inauguration, there are questions about whether the United States will maintain military support for Kiev.
Trump, who has publicly expressed doubts about continuing to aid Ukraine after taking office on Monday, has said he would end the war quickly but did not say how.
Work continued throughout the day Saturday in Kiev clearing debris from the pre-dawn attack. McDonald’s promised to repair damaged restaurants at its first former location in Ukraine when the chain opened in 1997.
Around 9:30 p.m., a new air raid siren sounded over the capital. Then, just after midnight, the sirens rang again and a thud could be heard throughout the city. Authorities said air defense forces were working to intercept the drone and reiterated calls for residents to evacuate.
Marc SantoraLiubov Sholudko and Oleksandr Chubko contributed to the report.
