Russia Launches Ballistic Missile Attacks On Kyiv, Four Killed Across Ukraine

Russia launched a large-scale overnight missile and drone attack on Ukraine on Sunday, killing at least four people and injuring 36, as Kyiv described it as one of the most intense ballistic assaults on the capital since the start of the war.

Three people were killed and 20 others injured in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, while one person died and 16 were wounded in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight assault on Kyiv was "one of the most massive ballistic attacks" on the capital since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 41 missiles, including Iskander ballistic and hypersonic Zircon missiles, along with 125 drones. Air defences intercepted 18 missiles and 108 drones, it added.

The strikes damaged residential and commercial buildings across six districts of Kyiv, including a supermarket, warehouses, a dormitory and a logistics hub in Bucha district, where two people were injured. Firefighters were deployed to extinguish multiple blazes triggered by the attacks.

In Kharkiv, a Russian strike hit a postal terminal on the city's outskirts, killing three men aged between 24 and 62. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said three of the injured remained in critical condition.

The latest bombardment comes as Ukraine faces a shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles, which Kyiv considers its most effective defence against Russian ballistic missiles.

"Protection against ballistic missiles is our constant and top priority right now," Zelensky said. "Interceptors are needed every day."

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the attack as "a brutal terrorist attack on the Ukrainian capital" and called for stronger international pressure on Moscow.

Elsewhere, Russian drone attacks killed one person in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, while a drone strike on a passenger train in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region killed its conductor, Ukraine's national railway company said.

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it had continued long-range strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.

Zelensky said Ukrainian security service (SBU) units struck three oil depots in Russia's Stavropol region and another fuel facility in the area.

"SBU [security service] units hit three oil depots in the Stavropol region simultaneously, while units of our Armed Forces struck another fuel-sector facility in the same region," he said.

He also said Ukrainian forces had targeted three Russian "shadow fleet" oil tankers in the Black Sea.

"Precise hits on three Russian 'shadow fleet' tankers were recorded in the Black Sea. I thank every one of our units that is helping to spread the realisation within Russia that this war must be brought to an end."

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium said its Black Sea export terminal had been hit, damaging two tankers and forcing it to suspend oil loading operations. It said there were no injuries or oil spills.

The overnight attacks followed Ukrainian drone strikes on two warehouses belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries, which reportedly killed eight people and caused major fires.

Zelensky said Russia had intensified its aerial campaign over the past week.

According to the Ukrainian president, Moscow has "used about 1,450 strike drones, more than 1,640 guided bombs and 99 missiles of various types against Ukraine" in the last seven days.

(inputs from Al Jazeera and BBC)