‘Massive’ Russian missile barrage hits Kyiv after Putin orders retaliation for deadly Ukrainian attack

Key Points:

• At least two people were killed and over 62 injured in one of Russia’s largest aerial assaults on Kyiv, involving 600 drones and 90 missiles, following President Putin's order for retaliation after a Ukrainian attack.
• Ukrainian air defenses reportedly shot down 604 of the incoming aerial weapons, but Kyiv remained the primary target, suffering significant damage to residential buildings, a student dormitory, and commercial sites.
• Ukraine confirmed Russia fired a hypersonic “Oreshnik” missile at Bila Tserkva, with a total of 83 people injured nationwide amid ongoing fears of further strikes, prompting calls for international preventive measures against Moscow.
• The attack followed Russian accusations of a Ukrainian drone strike killing 18 children in a Russian-occupied town, claims rejected by Ukraine as manipulative, amid intensified Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian military facilities in occupied territories.
• Ukraine has increasingly used mid- and long-range drones to target Russian military and industrial sites deep inside Russian territory, including a recent strike on a chemical plant in Perm Krai, highlighting the escalating aerial conflict.