Russia Launches Massive Overnight Attack on Ukraine, Killing at Least 18 Civilians

Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least 18 civilians and wounding more than 100 others, authorities said Tuesday. The attack, which stretched from night into day, caused widespread damage and trapped people under rubble.

In the central city of Dnipro, emergency crews recovered the bodies of a 3-year-old child and a mother with her 8-year-old son. Twelve people were killed in Dnipro and six in Kyiv.

At least 64 people were wounded in the capital alone. Kyiv residents had been on edge after Russia warned of a massive aerial attack and urged foreign diplomats to leave, though none heeded the call.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for more U.S. and European support, describing the assault as an explicit statement by Russia that strikes will continue if Ukraine is not protected from ballistic missiles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has intensified Moscow's aerial campaign, recently launching a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for only the third time in the four-year war. The strategy exploits Ukraine's shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles, depleted by the Iran war, leaving civilians vulnerable to ballistic missile barrages even as most drones are intercepted.

Russia unleashed 73 missiles and 656 drones across Ukraine, targeting Kyiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defenses destroyed or suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.

Putin signaled no let-up, citing a Ukrainian drone attack on a college dormitory in Starobilsk that killed 21 as giving the war a new dimension. In Kyiv, resident Iryna Salikova, 37, sheltered in a bathtub with her 3-year-old daughter as blasts shattered windows.

Olena Dniprovska, 65, and her husband Yevhen were wounded in their apartment, which was destroyed. In Kharkiv, at least 14 people were wounded and homes damaged.

The attack hit at least 38 locations across Ukraine, with debris from destroyed drones falling on 15 sites.