Russia bombards Ukraine’s capital, killing 13 in revenge strikes

At least 13 people have been killed in Kyiv after Russia launched dozens of missiles and nearly 500 drones at the Ukrainian capital and several other regions overnight, shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of a “massive attack” on the horizon.

More than 90 others were injured, including two children, officials said, in what Moscow described as retaliation for persistent Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on its oil refineries.

The strikes hit 30 different areas of Kyiv, according to city authorities, with hundreds of rescuers working to pull survivors and bodies from damaged buildings.

Zelensky said Russia had targeted residential buildings, destroying an ambulance station, a hotel, a scientific institute and an unspecified number of businesses.

Footage posted online showed orange flames engulfing the top of a high-rise building and the ceiling of a Kyiv metro station collapsing.

City residents frequently shelter in the metro network and the 46 stations in the capital are open during air raids. More than 52,000 people fled to Kyiv’s metro overnight—the highest number in several years, authorities said on Thursday.

Late on Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence assessed Russia was about to launch a devastating strike on Ukraine, urging people to “be especially careful” and listen for air raid warnings overnight.

Many of the capital’s residents were prepared for what would become “one of the most tragic nights in Kyiv,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian lawmaker who chairs the country’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee.

Merezhko, who lives with his family in an apartment in central Kyiv, said explosions rattled through the city as he placed his small child in a room he thought seemed the safest place during the attacks.

His family were unharmed in the attacks, Merezhko told Newsweek. But, he said, “each night when you go to bed in Ukraine, you can never be sure that you’ll wake up.”

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 74 missiles and nearly 500 drones, including four of Russia’s hypersonic Tsirkon missiles, at the country overnight.

Russia says this missile, which can be fitted with nuclear weapons, can travel at nine times the speed of sound and reach distances of up to 1,000 kilometers.

Western experts doubt whether the Tsirkon is as capable as Russia claims. Ukraine says the weapon can be intercepted by advanced air defense systems, like the U.S.-made Patriot, which is highly prized in Ukraine but in short supply.

Ukraine’s air force did not report any successful Tsirkon intercepts on Thursday.

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said the overnight attacks showed Ukraine needed more air defense systems “right now, not later.”

Sybiha also called for more Western sanctions on Russia’s economy, and for the country’s backers to help keep Ukraine’s energy systems running.

Retaliation For Ukrainian Oil Refinery Attacks

Russia’s government said the “massive” bombardment homed in on fuel and energy sites, industrial facilities linked to the Ukrainian military around the capital, and military airfields across northern and central Ukraine.

The attacks were a response to Kyiv’s long-range strikes inside Russia, Moscow said.

Ukraine has doggedly targeted Russian oil refineries, trying to make it more expensive for Russia to continue its war effort.

Russia is a major oil exporter and relies on revenue from these exports to keep its economy going, especially because it dedicates so much of government spending to the military. Russia’s army also needs fuel to make sure it can sustain its tanks, armored vehicles and logistics operations in south and eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has attacked at least four Russian oil refineries in the past week, including a refinery in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region in the early hours of Thursday.

Ukraine’s military said it caused a fire at the refinery in Kstovo, east of Moscow, which is one of Russia’s largest refineries. Kyiv has attacked the site several times, including in mid-May 2026.

In a rare public admission, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Sunday “there are still queues at petrol stations, and finding the right grade of petrol isn’t always easy.”

Putin said on Sunday Russia had completely banned exports of oil and jet fuel exports to prioritize Russian customers, and was debating banning diesel sales abroad.

At least 56 Russian regions have now introduced fuel restrictions, according to independent Russian outlet, Mediazona, and fuel prices at some gas stations have soared, reports indicate. Russian-installed authorities in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Kyiv in 2014, last month imposed a ban on fuel sales to members of the public, with only emergency and military vehicles able to fill up at gas stations on the peninsula.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Frances Mao and Tony Phillips