Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, was subjected to a major Russian drone and missile attack overnight into Thursday. Several explosions were heard across parts of the city, and the assault resulted in the deaths of at least two people and left more than a dozen others injured, as residential buildings bore the brunt of the strikes.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed the severity of the attack through posts on Telegram. He initially reported that a hotel roof on the central Shevchenko Boulevard had caught fire. In a subsequent update, Klitschko specified that Kyiv had also been targeted by a ballistic missile attack during the extensive overnight bombardment.
The latest aggression follows earlier warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He had previously stated that intelligence reports indicated a significant assault was probable, prompting him to cut short his visit to Dublin.
This wave of Russian attacks comes shortly after Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow earlier in the week. That Ukrainian drone assault, in turn, occurred less than two weeks after a major oil refinery in the Moscow region was hit, marking the largest drone attack on the Russian capital since the full-scale war began in 2022. Throughout the conflict, Russia has consistently aimed at Ukraine’s energy facilities and other critical infrastructure. But Ukraine is now producing better long-range drones and has struck targets deep inside Russia.
A new analysis released Wednesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) sheds light on the impact of drone warfare in the ongoing conflict. The study estimated that over 90% of Russian casualties stemmed from drone attacks, not human-to-human engagements. Between February 2022 and June 2026, Russian forces reportedly suffered approximately 1.4 million battlefield casualties (killed, wounded, or missing) and 400,000 to 450,000 fatalities. Ukrainian forces, in the same period, experienced 525,000 to 625,000 casualties and 125,000 to 150,000 fatalities. This grim assessment reveals that over two million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and wounded since the war began.
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