A 32-year-old woman and her two-month-old son were killed in Kyiv after a record overnight attack that Ukrainian authorities said involved at least 805 drones and more than a dozen ballistic and cruise missiles, officials said Monday.
The strikes hit more than 20 cities across Ukraine in the assault that Ukrainian authorities described as one of the largest of the war, leaving dozens wounded, damaging high-rise housing and government buildings and setting fires in multiple urban areas.
Ukrainian officials said the woman and her infant died in the Sviatoshynskyi district of Kyiv and that the child's father was pulled wounded from the rubble. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a nine-storey residential building had partial collapses from the fourth to the eighth floor; rescuers reported finding two bodies there and were searching for a third. Separately, local authorities reported one death and seven wounded in the Sumy region.
Kyiv's government said its Cabinet of Ministers building suffered damage to its roof and upper floors, the first time offices of the cabinet have been hit since the start of the war. Firefighting crews worked through the night to extinguish blazes in the capital and other cities, and residents were seen wrapped in blankets after the bombardment.
Ukrainian air-defence forces said they intercepted the majority of incoming weapons. Kyiv acknowledged that 751 incoming drones and missiles were downed or missed their targets and that strikes by nine missiles and 56 strike drones hit 37 locations, with debris from downed devices falling in at least eight places. Moscow-aligned outlets and some Russian channels claimed higher figures, with one report asserting as many as 1,000 drones were used.
The barrage targeted infrastructure as well as population centres. Officials reported damage to energy facilities, an airfield in Khmelnytskyi region, the Kryukovskiy bridge in Kremenchuk and a dam area in Svitlovodsk. The key road and rail link at Kremenchuk was closed and electricity and internet services were disrupted in parts of the country.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in a statement that Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Kremenchuk and Odesa had been hit and urged international partners to increase sanctions against Russian oil and gas and to supply weapons. "The enemy terrorises and kills our people across the country every day. The world must respond to these destructions not only with words but with actions," she said.
As the strikes unfolded, NATO moved to reinforce air defences near the alliance's eastern flank. Allied fighters were scrambled over Poland, close to the Ukrainian border, and ground-based air-defence and radar reconnaissance systems were placed on heightened alert, the Warsaw operational commander said. "These actions are of a preventive nature and are aimed at securing the airspace and protecting citizens, especially in areas adjacent to the threatened zone," the commander said.
Ukrainian officials also reported counterstrikes inside Russia. Kyiv said its forces struck oil infrastructure, including the Druzhba pipeline in the Bryansk region, and that drones had ignited fires at the Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar and at the Kavkaz port on the Kerch Strait opposite occupied Crimea. Russian and Ukrainian claims about damage and responsibility for specific strikes could not be independently verified.
Analysts and officials said the scale and scope of the overnight operation marked an escalation in Moscow's use of drones and long-range missiles. Pro-Russian channels celebrated the scale of the operation, while Ukrainian leaders framed the assault as part of a sustained campaign against civilian and infrastructure targets.
Emergency services across multiple regions continued search-and-rescue operations on Monday. Local authorities reported dozens of injuries in Kyiv and other cities, and firefighters worked to douse remaining fires. The Ukrainian government said it would repair damaged buildings but noted that lives lost could not be returned.
The attack renewed calls from Kyiv for more international military assistance and tougher sanctions on Russia. Western capitals and alliance officials said they were monitoring the situation closely and reiterated support for Ukraine, while NATO increased air policing and surveillance along its eastern periphery in response to the overnight strikes.