Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack across Ukraine on Thursday, targeting Kyiv and several other regions, prompting neighbouring Poland to scramble fighter jets and Finland to temporarily impose airspace restrictions.
Russia's Defence Ministry said on Telegram that it carried out a "massive strike using long-range precision air, land, and sea-based weapons and attack drones".
According to Moscow, the strikes targeted military-industrial facilities, fuel and energy infrastructure in Kyiv and the surrounding region, along with military airfields in the Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed the Ukrainian capital was under attack from both ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
"Kyiv is under attack from ballistic missiles and UAVs," Klitschko said on Telegram, adding that the assault had left 10 people dead and 34 others injured.
Ukrainian authorities did not immediately disclose how many missiles and drones were launched or how many were intercepted by air defence systems.
The scale of the attack prompted heightened security measures in neighbouring countries.
Finland briefly established an aviation restriction zone over the eastern Gulf of Finland before lifting the measure later on Thursday morning.
Poland also activated defensive measures, scrambling fighter aircraft and placing its air defence network on heightened alert.
In a post on X, Poland said "fighter jets have begun operating, while ground-based air defense systems and radar reconnaissance have reached a state of readiness".
Poland's Armed Forces Operational Command said the actions were precautionary and intended to secure the country's airspace, "especially in areas adjacent to the threatened regions".
Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Olga Stefanishyna, said residents across Kyiv spent the night sheltering from the attacks.
She said fires had broken out and residential buildings had been damaged in several districts of the capital.
The attack came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Wednesday evening that Russia was preparing another major strike and urged citizens across the country to heed air raid warnings and seek shelter.
Zelenskyy also announced he was cutting short a visit to Ireland to return to Ukraine as the situation escalated.
He said Ukrainian authorities had long been aware that Russian President Vladimir Putin was preparing another large-scale offensive.
"Russia’s head is completely refusing to end the war," Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
"And although through all possible official and unofficial channels – including through people close to him – we have conveyed that the war can and must be ended, and that we in Ukraine are ready for meetings and meaningful negotiations, he sees only further aggression against Ukraine and against other neighbors and Europe as a whole," Zelenskyy added.
The latest strikes come as Ukraine has intensified its own long-range drone campaign against targets inside Russia, including oil refineries, military installations and major cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Those operations have prompted some analysts to suggest Ukraine has gained greater strategic leverage, with Putin recently acknowledging for the first time that Ukrainian drone attacks have affected Russia's fuel production.
