Kyiv was subjected to heavy shelling on Sunday, killing at least one person, just days after a deadly Ukrainian attack on a college in a Russian-occupied region prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to vow a military response.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that these nighttime attacks with missiles and drones resulted in the death of at least one person and injuries to 13 others, seven of whom were hospitalized.
Journalists in the Ukrainian capital reported hearing a series of explosions that shook buildings and seeing tracer bullets streak across the dark sky. They also heard heavy anti-aircraft fire, apparently an attempt to shoot down a drone whose drone's whirring echoed through the city center.
Hours before this attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of the possibility of an imminent massive Russian strike that might use its Oreshnik missile, while the US embassy warned of the risk of a strike “within the next 24 hours.”
The Ukrainian military wrote on Telegram as the explosions were heard: “The capital is currently the target of a massive missile attack by the enemy. Stay in shelters!”
Klitschko noted that a school was hit in the attack in the Shevchenkivskyi district, while shelling near another school blocked the entrance to a shelter where residents had taken refuge.
Air raid alerts were activated across Ukraine. The Ukrainian military stated that the attack on the capital involved "missiles of various types and drones."
Signs of preparations for a strike
Zelensky warned on Saturday of the possibility that Russia might launch a massive imminent strike, potentially using its Oreshnik missile.
He added: “We see signs of preparations for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kyiv, using different types of weapons,” including the Oreshnik medium-range missile, calling on residents to “act responsibly” and head to shelters if the sirens sound.
The US Embassy in Kyiv also announced in a statement published on its website that it had “received information about a potentially massive air attack that could occur at any time during the next 24 hours.”
The Russian military deployed the Oreshnik missile, its latest hypersonic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, last year in Belarus, a Moscow ally bordering three NATO and EU member states: Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, as well as Ukraine.
Moscow has already used this missile twice since it began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022: in November 2024 against a military factory and in January 2026 against an aviation industry center in western Ukraine near the NATO border.
In both cases, the missiles did not carry a nuclear warhead.
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed a military response to a Ukrainian drone strike that targeted a vocational college in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine late Thursday and early Friday, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 40.
Kyiv denied targeting civilian sites, asserting that it struck a Russian drone unit stationed in the area.
Zelenskyy called on the international community to "put pressure" on Russia to dissuade it from launching such an attack, warning that Ukraine "will respond fully and equally to every Russian strike."
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