Russia launches ‘nightmare’ deadly drone and missile strikes across Ukraine, Kyiv says

LONDON — Russia on Monday launched a deadly large-scale attack across Ukraine, sending drones and cruise and ballistic missiles toward at least 15 regions, Ukrainian officials said.

“What is happening now in Kyiv is unbelievable horror. Pray for us,” Kira Rudick, a member of Ukrainian Parliament, said on social media. She later added, “What happened today? Nightmare.”

Some residents in Kyiv, the capital, took shelter in the city’s subways as Russia launched its “massive” attack across the country, Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister, said on social media. She included local news video that appeared to show throngs of people standing along a train platform.

Kyiv was among the 15 areas throughout Ukraine that had been struck in the attack, which began early and continued for at least five hours, officials said.

“Attack UAVs are attacking Kyiv from various directions right now,” the Kyiv City Military Administration said, referring to uncrewed aerial vehicles, or drones.

The administration added, “Air defense soldiers have already destroyed a total of about one-and-a-half dozen enemy drones that were headed for the capital. The air alert in Kyiv has been going on for more than 6 hours.”

The strikes followed Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations on Saturday. Russia had on Saturday struck several pieces of Ukrainian infrastructure, knocking out power for many. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv was helping restore power on Sunday after Russia’s “barbaric attacks,” according to the U.S. State Department’s official Russian social media accounts.

Russia in its Monday attack also targeted energy infrastructure in an attempt to “terrorize all of Ukraine” and to “deprive Ukrainians of electricity,” the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the country’s parliament, said. Engineers were working midmorning to restore power to many, the parliament said.

“The desire to destroy our energy will cost the Russians dearly — their infrastructure,” Andrii Yermak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in Ukrainian on messaging app Telegram on Monday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday it had carried out a “massive strike with long-range precision weapons,” including some that were launched from the sea. Russian drones were sent to strike “critical energy infrastructure facilities that supported the operation of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement.

“All designated targets were hit,” the ministry said.

At least one person was killed Monday in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Ukrainian Emergency Service said in a statement.

A strike there destroyed two houses and damaged four others, the service said. A fire was burning as emergency officials arrived, the service said.

“A man born in 1955 died as a result of the attack,” the service said. “Another man who was under the rubble was also rescued. He was found by rescuers and handed over to medics.”

Dozens of others were wounded in the strikes, which were among the largest such aerial attacks since war began in 2022, Zelenskyy said. More than 100 missiles were launched, along with a comparable number of drones, he said.

“And like most previous Russia strikes, this one is just as dastardly, targeting critical civilian infrastructure,” he said in Ukrainian, adding later that Russian President Vladimir Putin “can only do what the world allows him to do.”

A residential apartment building was also struck in Lutsk at about 8:30 a.m., the service said.

At least three people were injured in the Mykolaiv region, Vitaly Kim, head of the regional military administration, said on the messaging app Telegram.

“Everything is under control,” Kim said. “Charge your devices just in case.”

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.