At least four people died after a Russian drone struck an apartment building in eastern Kyiv, amid a widespread wave of attacks across Ukraine’s capital.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes as “vile and calculated,” reporting that about 430 drones and 18 missiles had been launched, causing damage to dozens of high-rise buildings.
In the Lisovyi district, emergency teams combed through the rubble of the destroyed apartment block.
Kyiv resident Vita described the scene, “I saw it with my own eyes,” she said, recounting how the drone penetrated the building and exploded on the other side.
Other regions were hit as well. A drone attack on a market in Chornomorsk, southern Ukraine, killed two people.
Meanwhile, in Russia, the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk was targeted by an overnight Ukrainian strike.
Officials reported fires at the Sheskharis oil refinery, as well as damage to a ship and apartment buildings.
Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev said three crew members and another man were injured during the attack, which damaged the main oil depot and a container terminal.
President Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had fired long-range “Long Neptune” cruise missiles against Russia overnight, though he did not specify the exact targets.
In Kyiv, residential buildings were struck “in practically every district,” according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, who issued a warning to take shelter shortly after midnight on Thursday.
He wrote on Telegram, “it’s loud in Kyiv.”
The fire service reported that the drone hit the seventh floor of the apartment block in Lisovyi, causing floors eight down to four to collapse.
Emergency workers used two cranes to rescue survivors, throwing shattered walls and glass to the ground as they searched the rubble.
More than 40 people were rescued, including 14 from a fire in a residential building. One person was pulled from beneath debris, officials said.
The strikes also severely damaged Kyiv’s energy infrastructure, leaving some buildings without heating.
Ukrainian MP Lisa Yasko described the assault, “The attack was massive, with drones, with ballistic [missiles], with lots of air defence working. Very often there was the feeling that your bed was just shaking together with the windows.”
Medical teams were deployed to all fires, and Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that nine people were hospitalized, with one man in “extremely serious condition.”
Ukraine’s air force said drones and guided bombs targeted other regions, including Sumy.
The latest attacks come less than a week after six people were killed in a previous Russian offensive, which also damaged residential areas and energy infrastructure.
Russia maintains that its strikes on energy targets are aimed at the Ukrainian military, a claim Kyiv has consistently rejected.
President Zelensky has called for “no exceptions” to Western sanctions on Russian energy, despite the US recently granting Hungary one such exemption.
US President Donald Trump initially announced the sanctions after saying ceasefire talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin were not progressing.
