Ukraine says 3 killed in overnight Russian drone attack on Kyiv, Odesa

ISTANBUL

Ukraine said on Tuesday that at least three people were killed and 13 others injured in an overnight Russian drone attack on the country’s southwestern city of Odesa and its capital Kyiv.

“Unfortunately, the number of victims of the Russian attack has increased to two. The body of a man born in 1967 was found under the rubble. … Nine people were injured, four of them are hospitalized in a moderately serious condition,” Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

There are fires and damage to civilian infrastructure in the city due to the attack, Kiper said, adding that the strikes particularly targeted a maternity hospital, an emergency medical station, and residential buildings.

Kiper further reported that no casualties were recorded at the maternity hospital, with patients and staff managing to evacuate.

Elsewhere, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that four people were injured in the Ukrainian capital as a result of the attack, while the Kyiv City Military Administration (KMVA) on Telegram said seven of the capital’s districts were affected.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of the KMVA, later reported on his personal Telegram account that a woman died in the capital's Obolonskyi district due to the attack.

*Separately, Ukrainian Culture and Strategic Communications Minister Mykola Tochytskyi said on Facebook that the overnight attack on the country's capital also damaged the St. Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ukraine’s Air Force on Telegram claimed that its air defenses shot down 213 out of 315 drones of various types launched by Russia overnight.

"Russian missile and Shahed strikes drown out the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X following the strikes.

Zelenskyy reiterated that "concrete action" from the US, Europe, and others is necessary rather than reacting to the overnight attacks simply with silence. "There must be strong pressure for the sake of peace," he stressed.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced later in the day that it carried out a group strike overnight on "enterprises of the aviation, missile, armored and shipbuilding industries of Ukraine" in Kyiv.

It further noted that the strikes also targeted command posts and deployment sites of Ukraine's Armed Forces, as well as concentrations of weapons and military equipment, and infrastructure of military airfields, ammunition, and fuel depots.

"The goal of the strikes was achieved. All designated objects were hit," the statement added.

Earlier, the ministry also claimed to have downed 102 drones launched by Ukraine during an overnight attack, in response to which Ukraine has not immediately commented.