Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with drones and ballistic missiles before dawn on Saturday, officials said, killing at least three people in central Kiev as part of a broader assault that targeted towns and cities in the whole country.
Air raid warnings sounded as emergency crews raced to search for the dead and wounded – a sadly familiar routine in a nation that has been battered by relentless Russian bombing for nearly three years. Moscow called the attack a retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, which appear to have intensified in recent weeks.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that four ballistic missiles and 39 attack drones were launched during the assault, and that two ballistic missiles were shot down in the Kiev region. Although the city is attacked by drones almost every night, ballistic missile launches against the capital are less frequent.
The pre-dawn attack ruptured a water main near the city center, sending water rushing into the streets around the battered facade of the Lukianivska metro station. Nearby, smoke rose from a charred van with at least two burned bodies inside.
As a fire burned deep inside an industrial building across the street, firefighters were trying to haul debris away from the facade of a badly damaged McDonald’s. Others focused on the huge pieces of glass, debris and insulation materials covering the sidewalk outside the subway station, typically a place where residents seek safety during attacks.
Investigators walked up and down the street, looking for pieces of shrapnel in running water, and some shopkeepers tried to get past the police cordon.
“It’s very scary, because this place keeps getting hit again and again,” said Yana, 30, who gave only her first name. “Some things get intercepted, but some always get through.”
When the waters receded, a large crater was visible in the middle of the road as the sun rose. Yuriy Ihnat, an air force spokesman, told the Ukrainska Pravda news agency that one of the missiles was shot down at low altitude, which would help explain the extensive damage to the road and surrounding buildings.
Ukrainian air defense teams spent hours tracking and trying to shoot down attack drones in the skies above the country. Russia uses drones to hit targets and weaken air defense teams, and for months has sent swarms of them into Ukraine almost every night. Many are “dummy” drones, without warheads, intended to overwhelm the mobile air defense teams that are on guard 24 hours a day.
Kiev seeks to reserve its most sophisticated air defense systems for fighting cruise and ballistic missiles, which are deadlier and more expensive to produce. Ballistic missiles also travel at high speeds, which can make them difficult for air defense systems to intercept.
On Saturday, in Kiev, just before 6 am, an air raid alert had just ended when explosions were heard throughout the city. Seconds later, air raid sirens began to sound.
Authorities initially said four people had been killed, but President Volodymyr Zelensky later revised the death toll to three and said three others had been injured in the attack.
Another attack in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia wounded at least 10 people, he added, warning that more people could still be trapped under the rubble. According to local authorities, an industrial building, along with houses, shops and a church suffered damage.
Zaporizhzhia has come under heavy attacks in recent weeks, including a strike this month that killed 13 civilians and injured at least 110 others, according to Ukrainian officials.
On Saturday, the death toll from a Russian missile attack that occurred a day earlier in Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine rose to five.
The United Nations estimated last week that there was a 30% increase in civilian casualties in 2024 compared to the previous year, as Russia sought to subjugate Ukraine.
In expressing condolences for the victims of Kiev and Zaporizhzhia, Zelensky used a familiar refrain: soliciting support from allies in the face of Russian aggression.
“All those who help the Russian state in this war face pressures just as strong as those from these attacks,” he said in a statement. “We can only achieve this through unity with the entire world.”
As the toll of nearly three years of war has mounted, Ukraine has built its arsenal of long-range missiles and drones to respond. In recent weeks, Ukraine has stepped up its campaign to target oil and gas facilities inside Russia, an attempt to stymie Moscow’s war machine on its territory.
This attempt continued on Saturday, with the Ukrainian army saying it had struck an oil depot in the Tula region, south of Moscow. There were also reports of a strike in the Kaluga region, about 100 miles southwest of Moscow.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that air defenses intercepted 46 Ukrainian drones overnight, including five over the Tula region and seven in the Kaluga region. He did not comment on any damage.
The attack on Kiev, the ministry said in a separate statement, was in response to an attack on Russia’s Belgorod region.
Long aimed at limiting Moscow’s ability to strike Ukrainian cities, Kiev’s attacks inside Russia have taken on greater prominence in recent weeks. Ukrainian forces are struggling on the battlefield at home, and Donald J. Trump’s impending inauguration in Washington has raised questions about whether the United States will maintain military support for Kiev.
Trump, who has publicly expressed doubts about whether he will continue to assist Ukraine when he takes office on Monday, has said he will end the war quickly, without specifying how.
Marco Santora AND Liubov Sholudko contributed to the reporting.