A wave of Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv overnight, killing at least eight people and wounding five others, including two children, according to Ukrainian officials. The attack, described as "massive" by local authorities, hit a railway depot and other infrastructure in the capital, with fires continuing to burn into the morning.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed the death toll and injuries on Tuesday, as the city braced for the start of the school year. The strikes came just hours before children were due to return to classrooms, prompting authorities to impose strict security measures and ban large gatherings in high-risk areas.
Railway depot hit
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, chief executive of Ukrainian Railways, said a missile struck a railway depot and related facilities in Kyiv, killing seven people—six of them railway employees. "The ballistic strike took the lives of seven people, six of whom were our employees," he said, adding that another worker had been hospitalised. He described "extensive destruction," including the complete destruction of a workshop.
In the Boryspil district, east of Kyiv, regional officials reported one additional death from the overnight attacks. The Ukrainian air force had warned that the threat of "ballistic weapons and other means of attack against Kyiv and the region remains in effect," urging residents to stay in shelters.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had carried out a "massive strike" using long-range weapons and attack drones, targeting military-industrial and fuel-energy facilities in the Kyiv region. It also claimed strikes on infrastructure in the southern Odesa region and the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk.
Kyiv regional military administration chief Tymur Tkachenko wrote on Telegram: "Kyiv region came under a massive attack by Russian missiles and strike drones tonight." The attack follows weeks of intensified Russian drone and missile activity around the capital, with jet-powered drones triggering as many as a dozen air-raid alerts per day.
Just days earlier, a separate strike on an ammunition depot in the capital's suburbs killed 38 people, underscoring the escalating toll on civilian areas. Both sides have stepped up long-range strikes in recent months, targeting warehouses, businesses, oil and port facilities, and ships, leading to rising civilian casualties.
The overnight assault came as Ukrainian children returned to school, a symbolic moment that has been overshadowed by the ongoing threat. The Kyiv regional military administration has warned that no large events should be held in areas with high risk, reflecting the precarious security situation.
This latest barrage is part of a broader pattern of Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, including the destruction of millions of textbooks in warehouse strikes ahead of the school year. Meanwhile, European allies continue to monitor the situation, with Baltic states pushing back on fears of an imminent Russian attack and EU naval forces boarding a suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker in the Mediterranean.
As the conflict grinds on, the human cost continues to mount, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence. The international community, including the European Union, has condemned the attacks and reiterated support for Ukraine's defence.
