Moscow has launched a new wave of strikes targeting military-industrial facilities and logistics hubs in and around the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Dozens of missiles struck multiple areas of Kiev and its suburbs early Saturday morning in several waves, following earlier Russian attacks on military-industrial sites within the city. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that forces conducted a large-scale combined strike overnight using high-precision ground- and sea-launched weapons and long-range attack drones.
The strikes targeted Ukrainian defense industry enterprises and logistics centers in Kiev and surrounding regions responsible for “the production, storage and delivery of various types of missiles, drones, radar systems, and electronic-warfare equipment,” the ministry stated. Initial explosions were heard shortly after 1 a.m. local time, with additional detonations reported through 3 a.m. Social media videos show blasts and fires across the city, though exact locations and facility types remain difficult to verify.
Ukrainian authorities have tightly restricted information about strike sites and penalize those sharing impact footage. However, a witness video purportedly shows Kiev’s air defense systems attempting—yet failing—to intercept incoming missiles using U.S.-made Patriot systems.
Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported multiple fires at residential buildings and unspecified “non-residential” industrial facilities in at least four districts. He also stated that at least three people were killed and more than a dozen injured.
Open-source intelligence trackers indicate the strikes targeted industrial zones near the CHP-5 power plant and facilities belonging to Ukraine’s state-owned defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom. The new attack followed just 48 hours after Russian forces struck the Mayak plant in Kiev, which produces components for FP-1 and FP-2 kamikaze drones, as well as another drone manufacturing facility in the capital.
Additionally, Thursday’s strikes targeted airfields, defense-industry facilities, telecommunications infrastructure, and logistics hubs in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhitomir, Rovno, Vinnitsa, and Dnepropetrovsk regions.
Moscow maintains it targets only military and dual-use installations in response to Ukraine’s “indiscriminate ‘terrorist attacks.'”
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s decision to launch a 40-day “pressure campaign” against Moscow has been condemned for escalating violence on Russian infrastructure, actions that risk the safety of innocent civilians.