Apocalyptic scenes were pictured on the streets of Kyiv.

14:14, Sun, May 24, 2026 Updated: 14:15, Sun, May 24, 2026

Kyiv was barraged on Sunday overnight

Kyiv was barraged on Sunday overnight (Image: Telegram)

Russia launched a deadly attack on Ukraine's capital Kyiv Sunday overnight in one of the heaviest bombardments of the city since the start of the four-year war. The hours-long barrage killed four people and injured more than 80, destroying dozens of residential buildings, several schools, a water supply facility and a market. Putin's regime used 900 hundreds of drones and missiles. Ukraine's Air Force said that Russia launched 90 missiles and 600 drones and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported damage "in every district of the city". Residents shared videos online showing large explosions causing extensive damage and engulfing the city in fire and smoke.

The attack appeared to be a revenge fore a massive blitz on Friday when Ukraine targeted an elite Russian command centre in the occupied Luhansk region. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Russia used its Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile during the attack, the third time Russia has used the sophisticated weapon against Ukraine.

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Journalists on the ground reported a massive series of wall-shaking explosions in Ukraine's capital from around 1am local time, and then again multiple times between 3am and 5am, as Russia launched waves of ballistic and cruise missiles at the city.

Russia Carried Out Massive Missile And Drone Attacks On Kyiv

The devastating outcomes of the overnight attack on Kyiv (Image: Getty)

"There were sounds… a terrifying explosion. A terrible explosion. Flames. For a brief instant — maybe a second — I lost consciousness," Yevhen, a 74-year-old pensioner, told the Kyiv Independent at one of the attack sites.

The Oreshnik is a ballistic missile with a huge range of several thousand kilometres that can carry nukes. While it did not have a nuclear warhead attached yesterday, the huge missile did unleash a fast-moving flurry of warheads on Bila Tserkva, a town 56 miles south of the Ukrainian capital.

A top Ukrainian defence staffer said: "They launched a nuclear missile without a nuclear warhead to scare us and the world. Idiots."

It comes amid difficult time for Russia's troops. Last month, Ukraine liberated more land than Russia seized, causing Moscow to suffer a so-called net loss of territory. This is the first time since Ukraine's August 2024 incursion into the southern Russian Kursk region, according to a US-based conflict monitor Institute for the Study of War (ISW).