Russia launched a heavy ballistic missile barrage on Kyiv early Sunday, wounding at least five people and sparking fires and damage across several districts as residents sheltered underground. The strikes came after a deadly Ukrainian drone salvo in occupied Starobilsk that Moscow says killed 18 and injured 42; Kyiv denies targeting civilians. Authorities and the U.S. Embassy had warned of a likely large-scale Russian response. The U.N. condemned attacks on civilians but said it could not independently verify the events.
Heavy Ballistic Missile Barrage Hits Kyiv After Deadly Drone Strike In Occupied East
Residents take shelter in a metro station in central Kyiv during a Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital early on May 24, 2026. / Credit: Ania TSOUKANOVA /AFP via Getty Images
Kyiv was struck by a large ballistic missile barrage early on Sunday local time, officials said, wounding at least five people and causing damage across multiple districts after Moscow vowed retaliation for a deadly Ukrainian drone strike in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.
Agence France-Presse journalists reported loud explosions across the city, rattling a residential building near the government district and driving dozens of people to shelter in a central underground metro station.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram:
"The capital has come under a mass ballistic missile attack."
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said five people were wounded and one was hospitalized. Officials reported impacts and fires in Shevchenkivsky, Dniprovsky and Podilsky districts, and urged residents to remain in shelters as strike-drone activity continued and ballistic missile threats persisted.
Context: Retaliation and the Starobilsk Drone Strike
The missile assault followed warnings from Kyiv and the U.S. Embassy, issued after Russia vowed to "punish" those responsible for a separate drone barrage in the Russian-occupied town of Starobilsk. Moscow says that strike hit a college dormitory and killed at least 18 people and wounded 42; video from Russian emergency services showed rescuers searching rubble.
Ukrainian officials denied deliberately targeting civilians, saying their strike had struck a Russian drone unit in the Starobilsk area. Local Russian-backed authorities published a casualty list indicating many victims were young women born between 2003 and 2008.
Reaction And Wider Implications
Russia's foreign ministry warned that those responsible would face "inevitable and severe punishment." President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the U.S. Embassy had both warned of signs pointing to a combined Russian strike involving multiple weapons systems, with Zelenskyy naming the Oreshnik — a Russian, reportedly nuclear-capable hypersonic missile — among possible threats.
The U.N. condemned attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure "wherever they occur," but said it could not independently verify details because access to the area is limited. The strikes mark another escalation in near-daily missile and drone barrages since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 and come as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have slowed.
Note: All casualty figures and claims of responsibility reflect statements made by the parties involved and local authorities and have not been independently verified.
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