A massive overnight assault involving hundreds of drones and missiles struck cities across Ukraine, killing a mother and her two-month-old son in Kyiv and prompting NATO members to scramble warplanes over Poland amid heightened air-defence readiness.
Ukrainian officials said the strike — which Kyiv initially tallied at 805 attack drones plus 13 Iskander-K cruise and Iskander-M ballistic missiles — hit more than 20 cities, damaged government and civil infrastructure and caused dozens of injuries. NATO allies reported launching fighter jets over Polish airspace near the Ukrainian border as ground-based radar and air-defence systems were placed on heightened alert.
The dead in Kyiv were identified by officials as a 32-year-old woman and her two-month-old son in the Sviatoshynskyi district; the child’s father was pulled from the rubble with wounds, authorities said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said rescue teams found two bodies in a nine-storey residential building that sustained partial destruction from the fourth through the eighth floors and were searching for a third. A woman was also reported killed in the Sumy region, where seven people were wounded, Ukrainian authorities said.
Ukrainian commanders said their forces intercepted the bulk of the assault. Kyiv reported that 751 of the incoming drones and missiles were downed or missed their targets, and acknowledged strikes by nine missiles and 56 strike drones that caused damage at 37 locations. Debris from downed drones and missiles fell in at least eight populated areas, officials added. Pro-Kremlin media and social channels described the operation as one of the largest Russian drone attacks since the full-scale invasion began and some outlets claimed up to 1,000 drones were used.
Targets included the Kyiv region, Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, Kremenchuk, Khmelnytskyi, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Ukrainian authorities reported damage to energy infrastructure, a dam area in Svitlovodsk, a road and rail bridge across the Dnipro River, and an airfield in Khmelnytskyi region. Footage circulated on social media showed explosions and fires at the Kryukovskiy bridge in Kremenchuk and multiple blasts in the city; local officials said the key road and rail link was closed and that electricity and internet services were disrupted early on Sunday.
For the first time since the invasion began, offices of Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers were struck, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said, with the building’s roof and upper floors damaged and firefighters working to extinguish blazes. High-rise residential blocks and a nursery school were also reported hit in the assault on the capital.
“We will restore the buildings. But lost lives cannot be returned,” Svyrydenko said, calling for stronger sanctions on Russian energy exports and for additional weapons deliveries to help Kyiv prevent further civilian losses.
The Warsaw operational commander said allied jets were deployed as a precautionary measure “aimed at securing the airspace and protecting citizens, especially in areas adjacent to the threatened zone.” NATO officials said the move was preventive and part of collective defence measures in response to the scale of the attack.
Ukrainian authorities reported retaliatory operations inside Russia following the strikes. Kyiv said its forces carried out strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, including an attack on the Druzhba pipeline in the Bryansk region — a conduit for supplies to some European countries — and a drone strike that ignited the Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar region, prompting evacuations. Fires were also reported at the Kavkaz port area on the Kerch Strait opposite occupied Crimea.
Russian state-aligned outlets celebrated the scale of the operation, while Ukrainian officials and rescuers documented significant destruction in residential areas and transport hubs. Footage and images from the scene showed firefighters battling flames at damaged apartment blocks and government buildings, residents wrapped in blankets walking the streets after the night strike, and emergency crews working at sites of impact.
Ukrainian military and civil defence services continued search-and-rescue operations in affected areas and began damage assessments. Local authorities appealed for calm and for humanitarian assistance in places where power, heating and communications were interrupted.
The attack marked one of the largest and most complex aerial bombardments of the war to date, according to Ukrainian officials, and underscored continued risks to population centres and critical infrastructure despite months of international military and economic support for Kyiv. Both sides reported strikes beyond the immediate frontlines, contributing to an escalation of military and political tensions across the region.
Details on the full human toll and the extent of infrastructure damage were expected to be updated as rescue operations and official assessments continued through the day.