Kyiv, Ukraine —
Russia launched a major deadly attack on the Ukrainian capital Kiev early Tuesday, damaging residential buildings, authorities said, as part of a broader attack on targets across the country.
At least 13 people were killed in an overnight attack involving more than 600 drones and dozens of missiles, including state-of-the-art hypersonics, the Ukrainian military said. Ukrainian officials said four people were killed in Kiev and nine in central Dnipro, and more than 100 people were injured across the country.
Authorities said the attack damaged several homes and commercial buildings in the capital, set off fires and set cars ablaze.
Kiev’s air defense systems did not appear to be very active during the ballistic missile attack at around 7 a.m. local time, and CNN producers in the city center heard ongoing explosions but did not hear anti-aircraft system fire. A strong smell of smoke permeated the air in the city Tuesday morning.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the overnight attack as a “massive enemy attack.”
Klitschko said there were concerns that people were left stranded under the rubble of a high-rise apartment building in the Posilsky district that was partially destroyed by Russia’s “Double Tap” attack.
Images from Ukraine’s State Emergency Service show a heavily damaged house engulfed in flames while firefighters worked to extinguish it, with windows and the facade completely blown out in what appears to be the front room of another house filled with debris.
“Overnight, the enemy launched a large-scale attack on Kyiv region using drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Our peaceful towns and villages are once again under attack,” Kyiv region governor Mykola Kalashnik said.
Ukrainian authorities said the strike injured at least 65 people across the city, knocked out power and sent residents scrambling to evacuation centers as air raid sirens blared.
According to the mayor, a suspected missile hit a 24-story residential building in the Shevchenkivsky district and caused a fire, while in Podil a fire broke out in a 9-story building whose roof was hit by shrapnel. Klitschko added that Russian airstrikes elsewhere in the city also damaged clinics and left debris on the grounds of kindergartens. Three residential buildings, a storage facility and a non-residential building were damaged in Bucha, Kalashnik said.
A Russian attack was also reported in Dnipropetrovsk, injuring 35 people, and in Kharkiv, 14 people were injured, including children, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. According to Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko, those killed in Dnipro included Major Anton Yarmolenko, deputy head of the fire and rescue services who responded to the call for help at the time.
According to statistics from the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched a total of 656 drones and 73 missiles into Ukraine overnight, and a huge number of drones and just over half of the missiles were shot down.
According to the Air Force, Russia fired eight state-of-the-art hypersonic Zircon missiles toward Ukraine, none of which were intercepted. Experts previously told CNN that it would be nearly impossible to shoot down a Zircon missile.
According to an air force statement, the main targets of the airstrikes were Kiev, Dnipro, Kharkov, Zaporizhia and Poltava.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it targeted Ukrainian defense, military, fuel and transportation facilities in several key regions in retaliation for what it called a “massive attack” that was a “terrorist act by the Kiev regime,” Russian state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.
The attack used “high-precision long-range weapons,” including drones, and “hypersonic air-ballistic missiles” launched from the air and sea, TASS said.
Russia announced that it had intercepted 148 Ukrainian drones, and that an oil refinery in Krasnodar caught fire after the drone attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday reiterated his warning to the public about the possibility of a major attack by Russia.
The warning came after Russia announced last week that it was launching a “coordinated attack” on military facilities in Kiev, according to Russian state media.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also warned foreign nationals, including employees of diplomatic missions and international organizations, to leave Kiev “as soon as possible.”
The Russian attack comes as Ukraine expands its attacks on Russian oil assets.
President Zelenskiy said in a speech Monday night that between January and May, Ukrainian forces attacked 15 Russian oil refineries, destroying 40% of Russia’s major oil-refining capacity. CNN cannot independently verify reports.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
