Russia launched one of the most destructive aerial assaults of its war against Ukraine overnight on Saturday, firing approximately 600 drones and 90 missiles at Kyiv and other cities, killing at least four people and wounding dozens more, Ukrainian authorities confirmed Sunday, May 24.
The attack included only the third ever wartime deployment of Russia’s nuclear capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile, directed at Bila Tserkva southwest of Kyiv. Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 549 drones and 55 missiles during the hours-long barrage.
Residents rushed into underground shelters as explosions shook the capital through the early hours of Sunday morning. Journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Kyiv reported repeated blasts rattling multiple districts, with smoke rising across the skyline. By dawn, emergency crews were battling fires and combing through rubble left by strikes that damaged residential buildings, schools, shopping centres, theatres, museums and universities.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed damage across every district of the capital. Two people died in Kyiv and two more were killed in surrounding regions. Additional casualties were reported in the Kharkiv, Cherkasy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Among those sheltering underground was Sofia Melnychenko, a 21 year old Kyiv resident, who described scenes of panic inside a metro station after nearby explosions caused sections of the ceiling to crumble.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the assault on Telegram, writing that “Russia is genuinely deranged,” and citing damage to a water facility, schools and residential areas.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed the Oreshnik strike, framing the entire attack as retaliation for Ukrainian drone operations that Moscow says killed 21 people, many of them students housed in a vocational school dormitory in Starobilsk in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.
The assault drew immediate condemnation from European leaders. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the strikes as terror against civilians. French President Emmanuel Macron said the bombardment exposed the dead end of Russia’s war of aggression, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz labelled the Oreshnik deployment a reckless escalation.
The attack also produced diplomatic fallout beyond the battlefield. Albania summoned the Russian ambassador after the Kyiv residence of its envoy sustained damage. German public broadcaster ARD reported its Kyiv studio building was among the structures hit.
Ukraine has steadily expanded its long range drone campaign against Russian-controlled territory in recent months, describing the operations as retaliation for Moscow’s sustained aerial assault on Ukrainian cities since Russia launched its full scale invasion in 2022. United States-led efforts to broker a ceasefire have stalled, with diplomatic attention increasingly shifting toward the Middle East.
