Multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv as Russian drones and missiles struck the Ukrainian capital, hitting residential buildings and injuring at least five people, witnesses reported. Several fires were burning across the city.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that a hotel roof was on fire on central Shevchenko Boulevard. In a later post, Klitschko stated that Kyiv also came under a ballistic missile attack.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier said intelligence reports indicated a major assault was likely, prompting him to cut short his stay in Dublin.

The Russian drone and missile attacks come after Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow earlier this week. That Ukrainian drone assault occurred less than two weeks after Ukraine hit a major oil refinery in the Moscow region in the biggest drone attack on the Russian capital since the full-scale war began in 2022.

A new analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Wednesday said that, by some estimates, over 90% of Russian casualties were from drone attacks. The CSIS study said Russian forces suffered approximately 1.4 million battlefield casualties (killed, wounded or missing) between February 2022 and June 2026, with between 400,000 and 450,000 fatalities. Ukrainian forces suffered between 525,000 and 625,000 casualties and between 125,000 and 150,000 fatalities in the same period.

Source: www.dw.com