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Russia unleashed its largest air strike of the war on Ukraine overnight, firing 805 drones and 13 missiles in a massive assault that killed at least four
people, including an infant. Kyiv’s main government building was set ablaze during the onslaught for the first time since Russia's invasion began.
Deliberate Crime: Zelenskyy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack as a deliberate effort to prolong the conflict. “Such killings now, when real diplomacy could have already begun long ago, are a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war,” he said in a post on X.
Thick smoke rose over central Kyiv on Monday morning as flames gutted the top floor of the government building in the historic Pecherskyi district.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the strike marked the first time in the war that this heavily protected site had been hit, calling it “a symbolic blow to one of the city’s most heavily defended areas.”
Unprecedented Assault: Ukraine
The scale of the assault was unprecedented. Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 751 drones and four missiles, but others struck targets across the country, including Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia, and the Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
Rescue workers recovered an infant’s body from the rubble of a damaged apartment block in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, where a young woman also lost her life. Ukraine’s interior ministry confirmed more than 20 people were injured in the capital as air raid alerts stretched past 11 hours.
Dozens of blasts also shook the central city of Kremenchuk, damaging a bridge across the Dnipro River and cutting power for some residents, Mayor Vitalii Maletskyi reported.
Europe Condemns Attack
International condemnation followed swiftly. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the strike proved “again that the continued delaying of a strong reaction against Putin and the attempts to appease him made no sense.”
Russia, for its part, claimed it had targeted Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and transport infrastructure. Both Moscow and Kyiv denied striking civilians.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said it retaliated by hitting the Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia’s Bryansk region, causing “comprehensive fire damage.”
US Mulls Sanctions
Across the Atlantic, US President Donald Trump described the assault as “a horrible waste of humanity” but expressed hope for resolution. “I’m not happy. I’m not happy about the whole situation… but I believe we’re going to get it settled,” he told reporters. Trump also signalled he was preparing to escalate pressure on Moscow, saying he was ready to move to a second phase of sanctions — his strongest indication yet that tougher measures could be imposed on Russia or its oil buyers.
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