Russian forces struck Kyiv on Monday in a large-scale missile and drone attack that killed civilians and damaged residential districts, following a week of open Kremlin threats that Ukrainian officials say were calculated to terrorise the city before the first warhead landed.
The strike came after Moscow issued repeated public warnings of an imminent major assault — a pattern Kyiv and Western analysts described as deliberate psychological warfare, designed to run a sustained toll of fear ahead of the kinetic blow.
Ukrainian air defences engaged incoming projectiles across multiple approach corridors, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Damage assessments were ongoing Monday evening, with rescue crews working through rubble in at least two residential districts.
Ukraine's presidential office condemned the attack as a deliberate strike on civilian infrastructure and called on allied governments to accelerate weapons deliveries and tighten sanctions on Russian energy exports.
The assault complicates ceasefire diplomacy that the United States and several European governments have been pressing behind closed doors. Any formal negotiation timetable was not announced as of Monday night.
Ukrainian and allied officials are expected to address the strike at an emergency session in Brussels later this week.