Russia slams key Ukrainian cities in one of deadliest offensives in months

By Kosta Gak, Victoria Butenko, Helen Regan, CNN

Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN) — Moscow unleashed a lethal barrage on Ukraine early Tuesday, hitting the capital Kyiv and the central city of Dnipro in a broad-ranging offensive that inflicted one of the deadliest attack for months.

At least 18 people were killed in the overnight assault, including six people in Kyiv and 12 others, of which two were children, in Dnipro, according to Ukrainian officials. In total, more than 100 people were wounded.

More than 600 drones and dozens of missiles, such as advanced hypersonics, were fired on Ukraine, the country’s military said, hitting key civilian infrastructure. Within the capital, five medical facilities and several residential and commercial blocks were damaged or destroyed, sparking fires and burning cars, authorities reported.

Kyiv’s air defenses appeared to be less active during a ballistic missile strike around 7 a.m. local time, with CNN producers in the city center hearing ongoing explosions, but not the firing of counter-air systems. A strong smell of smoke permeated the air in the city on Tuesday morning.

Moscow launched the onslaught against threats of heightened aggression, citing a wave of Ukrainian near-daily attacks on Russian oil assets that have hit fuel assets and exacerbated economic woes. Last month the Kremlin warned of “consistent, systematic strikes” on “specific sites” in Ukraine – prompting Kyiv to push back against “Russian blackmail and threats.”

The rise in aerial attacks by both sides comes amid a relative stalemate on the ground. After more than four years, Russia’s full-scale invasion has morphed into a grinding war of attrition where soldiers are being killed en masse, financial losses are piling up and Kyiv has started to liberate more land than Moscow has seized.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the overnight assault as a “massive enemy attack.” Emergency crews fear people are trapped under the rubble of a multi-story apartment block in Podilsky district, following a “double tap” Russian strike, according to Klitschko.

Images from Ukraine’s State Emergency Services show a fire engulfing a badly-damaged house as firefighters doused the flames, and the windows and facade of what appears to be the front room of another debris-filled home completely blown away.

“Throughout the night, the enemy launched massive attacks on the Kyiv region using drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. Our peaceful towns and villages were once again under attack,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, the Kyiv regional governor.

At least 64 people were wounded across the city, Ukrainian officials said, in strikes that caused power outages and sent residents scrambling to shelters as air raid sirens sounded.

A suspected missile strike hit a 24-story residential building in Shevchenkivskyi district, sparking a fire, and a blaze broke out in a nine-story building in Podil after debris struck the roof, the mayor said. Russian strikes damaged a clinic and debris fell on the grounds of a kindergarten, Klitschko added. In Bucha, three homes, warehouse facilities and non-residential buildings were damaged, Kalashnyk said.

Further east, Russian attacks were reported in Kharkiv, where 14 people were wounded, including a child, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

A rescue operation is also underway at the site of a four-story apartment building in Dnipro that authorities said was “effectively leveled,” as six people remain unaccounted for.

Among those killed in Dnipro was Maj. Anton Yarmolenko, deputy chief of the Fire and Rescue Unit, who was responding to a rescue call at the time, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs Ihor Klymenko said.

Altogether, Russia fired 656 drones and 73 missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to Ukrainian Air Force figures, which said the vast bulk of the drones and just over half of the missiles were shot down.

Russia fired eight of its advanced hypersonic Zircon missiles toward Ukraine, the air force said, but none were intercepted. Experts have previously told CNN the Zircon missiles are near impossible to shoot down.

The main targets of the strike were Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Poltava, according to the air force statement.

“A massive attack and a completely transparent statement from Russia: if Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile strikes, these strikes will continue,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that “we absolutely need the United States’ help in supplying missiles for the Patriot systems.”

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its “massive strike” targeted Ukrainian defense, military, fuel and transport facilities in several key regions, in retaliation for what it said was “terrorist acts committed by the Kyiv regime,” Russian state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.

The assault involved “high-precision long-range weapons,” including drones and “hypersonic aeroballistic missiles” launched from the air and sea, according to TASS.

Russia said it intercepted 148 Ukrainian drones, but said an oil refinery in Krasnodar had caught fire after a drone attack.

Zelensky on Monday had reiterated his warning to citizens of a possible large-scale Russian strike.

Zelensky said in his nightly address Monday that between between January and May, Ukrainian troops have struck 15 Russian oil refineries, knocking out 40% of Russia’s main oil refining capacity. CNN cannot independently verify the report.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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