KYIV: Russia launched a large-scale wave of missiles and drones across Ukraine on Sunday, striking energy facilities, railway infrastructure, and residential areas just days before the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion.
The capital Kyiv, which has frequently been hit by aerial attacks since the war began, has recently experienced intensified overnight assaults as Russia steps up operations during harsh winter conditions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow continues to prioritize military action over negotiations. “Moscow continues to invest in strikes more than in diplomacy,” he wrote on social media, adding that roughly 50 missiles and 300 drones were launched overnight.
“The main target of the attack was the energy sector. Ordinary residential buildings were also damaged, and there is damage to the railway.”
The barrage coincided with Hungary’s announcement that it may block the European Union’s latest sanctions package against Russia unless Ukraine restores operations on a major oil pipeline supplying the country.
Ukraine previously reported that the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian oil through Ukrainian territory to Slovakia and Hungary, was damaged in late January during Russian strikes.
According to Ukraine’s national police, overnight attacks in Kyiv and surrounding areas killed one man and injured at least twelve others, including four children.
Rescue teams were seen searching through rubble at a heavily damaged two-storey house in the Kyiv suburb of Sofiivska Borshchagivka. Residents described the shock of the blast.
“I felt the building shaking. It was clearly a hit, and the force (of the explosion) was strong. I jumped up because my dog got scared too,” said Olga, a 48-year-old local resident.
Another resident, Anton, stressed that the area had no military presence. “Only people live here — schools, kindergartens, private houses — so it’s definitely not connected to any military facilities or any kind of industry,” he said.
Meanwhile, operations at Moscow’s major airports were temporarily suspended after Ukrainian drone attacks, before resuming later in the evening. Russia’s aviation regulator said flights restarted following coordination with authorities.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated that 20 Ukrainian drones approaching the capital had been intercepted or destroyed.
Russia’s military said the strikes targeted facilities linked to Ukraine’s armed forces and claimed all intended objectives were hit — a standard statement following such operations.
The attacks caused power outages across six eastern and southeastern Ukrainian regions, according to the energy ministry.
In Russia’s Belgorod region, officials reported that two men were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike. Poland also scrambled fighter jets after detecting Russian long-range aircraft carrying out strikes inside Ukraine.
In western Ukraine, an explosion struck a shop along a central street in Lviv around midnight, killing a policewoman and injuring 25 people after officers responded to a reported break-in. Authorities later detained a Ukrainian woman suspected of carrying out the bombing and said investigations were ongoing.
“This is clearly an act of terrorism,” said Mayor Andriy Sadovyi. Ukraine’s interior ministry added that “there is every reason to believe that the crime was committed on the orders of Russia”.
