Russian forces launched another massive wave of drone and missile attacks on Ukraine early Tuesday, killing one person and injuring at least eight others in the cities of Odesa and Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.
In the southern port city of Odesa, a missile strike killed one person and injured four others, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper. The attack also damaged a maternity hospital and several residential buildings in the city center.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine’s capital, four people were wounded as explosions rocked multiple districts. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defenses were active for hours as waves of Iranian-made Shahed drones buzzed through the night sky.
It was reported In the city reported hearing repeated blasts and drone activity before dawn. Fires broke out in at least four districts as debris from intercepted drones rained down on residential buildings and warehouses, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
The onslaught followed what Ukrainian and Western officials described as Russia’s largest overnight drone barrage of the war, nearly 500 drones launched across Ukraine. The strikes appear to be part of a retaliatory response to Ukraine’s June 1 drone attacks on long-range Russian air bases.
In Kyiv, the assault sent thousands scrambling for shelter. Metro stations filled with residents seeking refuge during the bombardment. Among them was Nina Nosivets, 32, who brought her 8-month-old son, Levko, into the underground station for safety.
“I just try not to think about all this,” she said. “Silently curled up like a mouse, wait until it all passes, Distract the child somehow, because it’s probably the hardest thing for him to bear.”
Another Kyiv resident, 37-year-old Krystyna Semak, said she rushed to the metro at 2 a.m., clutching her rug and frightened by the blasts. “It was terrifying,” she said.
In a damaged Kyiv apartment, Vasyl Pesenko, 25, stood in what remained of his kitchen after debris from a drone strike tore through the building.I was lying in bed, as always hoping that these Shaheds (drones) would fly past me, and I heard that Shahed (that hit the house),” he said. “I thought that it would fly away but it flew closer and closer and everything blew away.”
As Russian drone and missile strikes intensify, Ukraine continues to press for a ceasefire, a goal that remains out of reach despite prisoner swaps and limited diplomatic contact. The latest direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Istanbul have yielded only those exchanges.
The scale and frequency of Russia’s drone attacks underscore the war’s growing volatility, even as civilians like Nosivets and Pesenko endure the nightly terror of air raids and sheltering underground.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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