Russian strikes kill 18 across Ukraine
Rescue workers in several Ukrainian cities continued searching through collapsed buildings on Tuesday after a large-scale Russian missile and drone attack killed at least 18 people and injured more than 100 others overnight.
The strikes, which hit multiple regions across the country, left residential buildings damaged, energy infrastructure disrupted and emergency crews racing to recover survivors from beneath the rubble.
Among the hardest-hit areas was the city of Dnipro, where rescuers recovered the bodies of victims trapped inside a heavily damaged apartment block. Regional authorities said 12 people were killed there, including two children.
An eight-year-old boy and a woman were among those pulled from the debris after part of the residential building was destroyed in the attack.
Kyiv also suffered significant damage, with officials reporting six fatalities as explosions echoed across the capital during the early hours of Tuesday. Fires broke out at several locations, including near residential buildings, a construction site and a petrol station.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight assault involved hundreds of aerial weapons launched against Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian leader, Russia deployed 656 attack drones and 73 missiles of various types during the operation, targeting both civilian infrastructure and energy facilities.
“The main strike was on Kyiv, where dozens of residential buildings and other purely civilian infrastructure were damaged again,” Zelensky said.
He also renewed calls for additional air defence support from international partners, particularly interceptor missiles for Patriot defence systems, which Ukraine relies on to counter incoming missile threats.
Beyond Kyiv and Dnipro, other regions also reported casualties and damage. Authorities in Kharkiv said several people, including a child, were injured after energy facilities and civilian infrastructure came under attack. An industrial site in Zaporizhzhia was also reportedly struck.
As emergency teams worked through the wreckage, many residents spent the night in underground shelters and metro stations as air raid sirens sounded across the country.
One resident sheltering in Kyiv’s metro system described growing exhaustion after years of conflict, saying the repeated attacks had eroded hopes for a quick end to the war.
Meanwhile, Russia said the operation was carried out in response to earlier Ukrainian attacks. The Russian Defence Ministry claimed the strikes achieved their intended objectives, while Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said such operations would continue and described them as targeting military-related infrastructure.
Ukraine, however, rejected those claims, maintaining that civilian areas bore the brunt of the assault and accusing Moscow of escalating attacks on population centres.
The latest bombardment is among the most extensive Russian aerial attacks in recent months and comes amid continuing hostilities following the collapse of a temporary ceasefire earlier this year.
As rescue and recovery efforts continue, authorities are still assessing the full extent of the destruction, with fears that the casualty toll could rise further as searches continue at damaged sites.
Source: BBC
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