Russian air strikes have increased in scale and lethality, Ukrainian officials and analysts say, as a suspected Iskander cruise missile struck the cabinet of ministers building in central Kyiv in the early hours of Sunday and a glide bomb killed at least 24 civilians queuing for pensions in the eastern village of Yarova on Tuesday.
Ukrainian authorities showed reporters fragments they identified as parts of a Russian cruise missile recovered from the top floors of the Soviet-era government building, and said the strike was deliberate. Journalists filming during the air raid captured footage that appears to show a missile arcing down toward the building before an explosion; Ukrainian officials said there was no indication the weapon had been intercepted by air defences.
Inspectors found the missile did not detonate fully, limiting structural damage to about three floors, though the roof and parts of the top walls were blown apart and interior floors were left gaping. Severed cables hung from ruined ceilings and scorched interiors smelled of burning, reporters saw on a guided tour of the site. Collected fragments displayed Cyrillic lettering, and weapons specialists who reviewed the remains for Ukrainian authorities said the pieces were consistent with a Russian cruise missile and with an Iskander strike.
"Sometimes fuses do not work and missiles just don't detonate," said Fabian Hinz, a missile and drone expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin, speaking to BBC correspondents. Kyiv-based military analyst Oleksandr Musiienko said the weapon's high speed and low-altitude flight profile make such strikes hard to detect on radar and hard to intercept without more advanced systems such as Patriot batteries, which Ukraine says it needs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the Yarova attack as "savage" and renewed calls for allies to tighten sanctions and increase military support. The victims in Yarova were largely elderly people waiting to collect pensions; local images showed bodies on the ground and a smashed postal van that had been parked under a tree for cover. Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, called the strike "barbaric" and a "heinous crime."
Ukrainian officials said the strikes are part of a broader shift in Russian tactics that includes massed drone launches and use of glide bombs to strike population centres and logistics points with little warning. The quantity and sophistication of attacks are straining Ukraine's air-defence resources, officials say, with some drone sorties used as decoys to exhaust interceptors and munitions.
Ukrainian teams examining wreckage of Russian missiles and drones say the share of Western-made components in such weapons has fallen since 2022 but has not disappeared. Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an adviser to the president, said sanctions already imposed had reduced Western parts in Russian systems, but Moscow has substituted many components with domestically produced parts and increased cooperation with external suppliers, including Chinese firms, to make munitions harder to jam.
"There are less Western parts, that is good," Vlasiuk told reporters. "But the bad thing is that the number of Russian parts has increased, which means Russia is producing things they couldn't do before, including microchips."
Kyiv officials and analysts say the intensification of strikes has coincided with diplomatic activity in which external actors have proposed peace initiatives, and they have urged partners to maintain and tighten economic and military pressure. Zelensky said continued flows of some Western components to Russia remain a concern and urged stronger measures to stop them, writing that "strong actions are needed to make Russia stop bringing death."
Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly appealed for more advanced air-defence systems and missiles to protect cities and critical infrastructure. Analysts say those systems can reduce civilian casualties and blunt the impact of mass drone and cruise-missile attacks, but require time, training and sustained supply. The strikes on Kyiv's government quarter, which hosts heavily guarded buildings and is among the most protected parts of the capital, underscore the growing challenge Kyiv faces in shielding urban centres and civilians from long-range and low-altitude weapons.
Officials said investigations into both the Kyiv and Yarova strikes are ongoing and that evidence recovered from the sites will be used to support calls for further sanctions and international action. International responses have so far focused on condemnation and incremental sanctions, while Ukraine continues to press allies for more robust measures and defensive equipment.