Six killed, 80 wounded in intense Russian air attacks on Ukraine

In the early hours of Friday, Russia executed a heavy missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, resulting in the deaths of at least six individuals, according to Ukrainian authorities, while strong explosions echoed throughout the nation.

The assaults came after a caution from Russian President Vladimir Putin, relayed through U.S. President Donald Trump, that the Kremlin would respond following Ukrainian drones damaging multiple strategic bomber planes in strikes deep within Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported that three emergency workers lost their lives in the missile and drone attack on the capital.

Two were killed in an assault on the northern city of Chernihiv and at least one additional person in the northwestern city of Lutsk.

“Those killed in Kyiv were rescue workers who arrived at the scene of an initial strike and, unfortunately, were killed in a repeat Russian strike,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, writing on X, said Russia had “‘responded’ to its destroyed aircraft… by attacking civilians in Ukraine…. Multi-storey buildings hit. Energy infrastructure damaged.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out the strike on military and military-related targets in response to what it called Ukrainian “terrorist acts” against Russia.

“They gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, when asked about how Ukraine’s earlier drone strikes had affected the conflict.

Zelenskiy reported that 80 individuals across the country were hurt in the assaults, which also impacted numerous other towns and cities. He mentioned that people might still be stuck beneath the debris. In Chernihiv, the national emergency services reported that two corpses were retrieved from the debris of a destroyed industrial facility.

In Lutsk, a man’s body was discovered in the rubble of an apartment building, as emergency teams continued their search for his wife. In the city, thirty individuals were injured, and educational establishments along with a government building were impacted. Additionally, Russian troops targeted industrial sites and infrastructure in the western city of Ternopil, causing some areas to lose electricity, according to Mayor Serhii Nadal.

The local authorities reported that the assault injured 10 individuals and urged residents to remain indoors temporarily due to a significant level of toxic substances in the air following a fire. The air force claimed that Russia deployed 407 drones, marking one of the highest counts documented in a single strike. It reported that 45 cruise and ballistic missiles had been launched.