At least four people were killed overnight after Russia carried out its most intense aerial bombardment of Ukraine so far this year, striking the country’s two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, just hours after Moscow was condemned at the UN Security Council.
Ukrainian authorities said the attack caused power outages in parts of Kyiv and heavily damaged civilian and energy infrastructure across several regions. In Kharkiv, missiles hit a postal terminal and other infrastructure, triggering large fires and trapping civilians under rubble. Emergency services said dozens of people were rescued, including some pulled alive from collapsed buildings.
Smaller-scale strikes were also reported in Odesa in the south and in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, where homes, gas pipelines and civilian facilities were damaged and several people injured.
According to Ukraine’s air force, Russian forces launched at least 293 drones and 18 missiles overnight, marking the largest number of aerial weapons deployed by Moscow in 2026. Ukrainian air defences intercepted the majority of the drones and several missiles, but officials said the sheer scale of the assault overwhelmed defences in some areas.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia deliberately targeted Ukraine’s energy system, including power generation facilities and substations, while also striking residential areas with “no military purpose whatsoever”. He renewed calls for Western allies to speed up the delivery of already-approved weapons, warning that Russia was seeking to use winter conditions to pressure civilians.
The attack followed an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council late on Monday, where Russia faced sharp criticism for firing a nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic missile at the western city of Lviv last week, close to the Polish border. The United States and Britain described the strike as a dangerous escalation, with Washington accusing Moscow of undermining diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire.
Despite the condemnation, Russia’s ambassador to the UN warned that Moscow would continue its military campaign unless Ukraine accepted what he described as “realistic” negotiation terms, threatening that conditions would worsen if Kyiv refused.
The latest strikes underline a sharp escalation in the conflict as the war approaches its fourth year, with Ukrainian officials reporting a continued rise in civilian casualties and damage to critical infrastructure across the country.
