A mother and her two-month-old son were killed in Kyiv on Sunday as Russia launched what Ukrainian officials described as a record aerial assault that involved hundreds of drones and a number of cruise and ballistic missiles, officials said.
Ukrainian authorities said at least 805 drones and 13 Iskander-type cruise and ballistic missiles hit more than 20 cities across the country overnight on Sept. 7, 2025. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the two victims were found in a nine-storey residential building in the Sviatoshynskyi district. "The greatest damage was sustained by a nine-storey residential building, where there are partial destructions from the fourth to the eighth floor," he said, adding that rescuers were searching for additional victims.
Ukrainian officials reported dozens of injuries nationwide and said a woman was also killed in the Sumy region, with seven people wounded there. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the attack struck Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Kremenchuk and Odesa among other cities and damaged the roof and upper floors of the Cabinet of Ministers building for the first time during the war. "Rescuers are extinguishing the fire. I thank them for their work. We will restore the buildings. But lost lives cannot be returned," she said.
Ukrainian air-defence forces said they intercepted the majority of the assault. Kyiv reported that 751 of the incoming drones and missiles were shot down or missed their targets, but acknowledged that nine missiles and 56 strike drones impacted 37 locations, with debris from downed systems falling in eight places. Pro-Russian outlets and channels claimed the operation involved as many as 1,000 drones.
The strikes damaged civilian and transport infrastructure, energy assets and a key bridge over the Dnipro River that Ukrainian officials said had been targeted repeatedly. Footage and local reports showed fires and collapsed sections at high-rise residential buildings, a nursery school among the damaged sites, and heavy damage to parts of the road and rail network near Kremenchuk, where authorities recorded around 40 explosions in the city.
Poland-based NATO units scrambled allied fighters in response to the scale of the assault, with air-defence and radar reconnaissance systems placed on a state of maximum readiness along eastern NATO territory. The Warsaw operational commander said the move was preventive and aimed at securing airspace and protecting citizens in areas adjacent to the threatened zone.
Ukrainian officials said the assault included strikes on a dam area in Svitlovodsk and damage to an airfield in the Khmelnytskyi region. Local emergency services worked through the night to extinguish fires and clear rubble. Firefighters were also seen dousing flames at a transport enterprise hit in Kremenchuk and at damaged residential blocks in Kyiv.
Ukrainian leaders and officials framed the assault as an escalation that demands stronger international measures. Svyrydenko called for increased sanctions on Russia, particularly targeting oil and gas, and for more weapons to help Ukraine defend its territory. "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.
Ukrainian forces said they carried out retaliatory strikes on Russian economic and energy infrastructure. Overnight and in the hours after the assault, Ukrainian strikes set fires at the Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar region, prompted evacuations, and targeted the Druzhba pipeline in the Bryansk region, a key route for Russian oil exports to some European states. Fires were also reported at the Kavkaz port on the Kerch Strait opposite occupied Crimea.
Independent confirmation of damage in Russian territory was limited by access restrictions and the fog of war; both sides have used strikes on infrastructure as a tactical measure in the conflict. Moscow has not released detailed casualty figures from Russian territory related to those counterstrikes. Within Ukraine, officials cautioned that casualty and damage tallies could change as rescue teams complete searches and assess infrastructure impact.
The scale of the attack and the reported use of hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles, alongside cruise and ballistic missiles, marked one of the largest single nights of strikes since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. Western and Ukrainian military analysts say the growing use of massed drone and missile attacks poses an increasing challenge to air-defence systems and civilian protection, particularly when multiple targets are struck simultaneously across a wide area.
NATO's temporary scramble of fighters over Poland underlined allied concerns about potential spillover risks near the alliance's eastern flank, and allied commanders emphasized preparedness to protect NATO airspace. Warsaw's operational commander said allied actions were aimed at protecting citizens "especially in areas adjacent to the threatened zone."
As daylight brought clearer assessments, local authorities continued rescue and recovery operations, while energy companies worked to restore power and communications in affected regions. Ukrainian officials said repair and recovery would follow but reiterated calls for urgent international material and diplomatic support to prevent further loss of civilian life and to restore critical services.