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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was the primary target of the strikes, though several other regions were also hit. Loud explosions were reported across the capital through the night, while residential buildings, a school, an opera house and a museum suffered damage.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 90 missiles and 600 drones from Saturday evening onwards. Preliminary data indicated that 55 ballistic and cruise missiles and 549 drones were intercepted or destroyed, while 19 missiles may have failed to reach their targets. Officials also reported 16 direct missile strikes and 51 drone impacts across 54 locations.
Kyiv Under Heavy Fire
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people were killed inside the city and 36 others, including two children, were taken to hospital.
One fatality occurred after a nine-storey apartment building in Kyiv’s Shevchenko district was struck, sparking a fire on the upper floors. In the same district, debris from another strike blocked the entrance to an air raid shelter at a school, trapping several people inside.
Emergency crews were deployed across the capital to extinguish fires, clear rubble and treat the wounded.
In the surrounding Kyiv region, regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said two additional people had been killed. He described the strikes as “deliberate terror against peaceful people”.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the Chornobyl Museum in Kyiv had been heavily damaged. He called it “a deliberate attack on history, memory, and truth”.
Other regions including Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy and Zhytomyr were also targeted, according to Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
Dispute Over Oreshnik Missile
Russia’s defence ministry said the attacks were carried out in response to what it described as Ukrainian strikes on civilian infrastructure. Ukraine’s military denies targeting civilians.
Moscow also claimed it used the Oreshnik hypersonic missile during the assault. The weapon is believed to travel at more than 10 times the speed of sound and is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads.
President Zelensky said the missile had been launched at Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region, though Ukraine’s presidential office later said investigations were continuing to confirm exactly which weapons had been used.
If verified, it would mark the third known use of the Oreshnik missile since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 under President Vladimir Putin.
International Reaction
European leaders condemned the strikes and the reported use of the hypersonic missile.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticised the attack, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described the missile’s use as “reckless nuclear-brinkmanship”.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the scenes in Kyiv were “awful” and pledged continued pressure on Russia.
The assault came days after Russian officials accused Ukraine of attacking a student dormitory in the occupied town of Starobilsk, where Moscow said 21 people were killed. Ukraine acknowledged carrying out a strike in the area but said it targeted an elite Russian drone unit.
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Adapted by ASEAN Now. Source 25 May 2026
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