Russia intensified its assault on Kyiv early Wednesday, launching a wave of drones and missiles in its first combined aerial attack on the capital in more than 70 days, authorities reported.
The strikes coincided with warnings from Washington and Seoul, echoing Ukraine’s claims that North Korean troops had started “engaging in combat operations” alongside Russian forces on the border.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted four missiles and 37 drones launched by Russia, downing them across eight regions overnight and into Wednesday morning.
“It is important that our forces have the means to defend the country from Russian terror,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response to the attack.
Ukraine has been appealing for months to its Western allies to provide more air defense systems to fend off Russian attacks on cities and critical infrastructure.
The large-scale bombardment comes at a critical moment on the battlefield. Russian forces are advancing in the east, and concerns are growing over future aid for Ukraine after Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections.
AFP journalists heard explosions ring out over Kyiv and saw dozens of residents seeking shelter in an underground metro station in the center of the capital.
Kyiv officials said one man was wounded by falling debris from a downed drone in the suburb of Brovary, while emergency services distributed images of firefighters battling flames at one impact site.
A separate drone attack in the Ukrainian-controlled southern region of Kherson, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia, killed a 52-year-old woman, the regional head said.
Multiple air raid sirens rang out early Wednesday as authorities said missiles were closing in on Kyiv, which was home to nearly three million people before Russia invaded in February 2022.
“As missiles were approaching Kyiv, the enemy simultaneously launched a ballistic missile attack on the capital. The enemy attack ended with another drone strike,” city authorities said.
The attack is the latest in a series of escalating strikes on Ukrainian cities, mainly in the south of the war-battered country.
A Russian strike this week on Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, killed a 32-year-old mother and her three children.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied its forces target civilians in Ukraine, a claim its spokesman repeated Wednesday in response to a question over whether Russian forces were working to minimize civilian casualties.
Over the weekend, Moscow and Kyiv launched record overnight drone attacks on each other.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga held a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels, where he stressed the need for more air-defense systems after the latest night attack.
He also urged a strong response to the deployment of North Korean troops as Russia tries to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk border region.
“Russia is using Iranian drones, North Korean ballistic missiles, and troops to attack Ukraine. In response, the Kremlin is providing assistance to these regimes,” Sybiga said.
South Korea’s spy agency said North Korean soldiers were “engaging in combat” in Kursk after U.S. officials confirmed Pyongyang’s troops were actively fighting for Moscow against Ukraine.
Blinken said earlier he had discussed North Korea’s actions with NATO chief Mark Rutte, saying Pyongyang’s troops had been “injected into the battle, and now, quite literally, in combat.”
That development “demands, and will get, a firm response,” he pledged.
Kyiv has warned that Russia has amassed a force of 50,000 troops – including North Korean soldiers – to push Ukrainian forces out of the Russian border region of Kursk.
At the same time, Russian ground forces have been making rapid advances in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims as part of Russia.
On Wednesday, the Russian defense ministry said its troops had wrested control of the village of Rivnopil, where an estimated 98 people lived before the invasion.
To face both the North Korean threat and the continued Russian assaults, Ukraine has been advocating for allies to allow it to use long-range weapons deep inside Russian territory.
Moscow has repeatedly warned against the move.
“The response to the use of Western long-range systems on the territory of our country would be inevitable and devastating,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Separately, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine said the agency had orchestrated a car bomb attack in Crimea – the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 – that killed senior Russian naval officer Valery Trankovsky.
