Stay informed with free updates
Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
Russia has launched a drone and missile attack across Ukraine, officials said, days after a daring Ukrainian raid destroyed more than a dozen Russian strategic bombers thousands of kilometres away from the frontline.
A nationwide air raid alert began at around 1am on Friday, and explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital for several hours as air defence attempted to repel ballistic and cruise missiles as well as attack drones. The air raid alert was lifted in Kyiv about four hours later but remains active in western Ukraine and the country’s east.
At least three people were injured as debris from drones fell over residential areas, said Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko. Videos published on social media showed at least one building engulfed in flames in the capital.
City officials reported that debris from a drone had damaged a residential high-rise. “There is a fire, rescuers are heading to the scene,” Timur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, wrote on social media.
The attack targeted several cities across Ukraine, with explosions reported as far as Lutsk, 200km from the Polish border. Ukraine’s air force said several Russian cruise missiles had also targeted the city of Ternopil in western Ukraine.
The attack comes five days after a Ukrainian operation spearheaded by the country’s security service destroyed at least 12 Russian strategic bombers across four airfields. More than a hundred drones hidden in trucks hit the air bases.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin later told US President Donald Trump that Russia would respond to the Ukrainian raid.
“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Read the full article here
