Russia Bombards Kyiv With 500 Drones, Killing At Least 21 Civilians

Russia launched more than 500 drones overnight into Thursday morning during an 11-hour bombardment of Ukraine that focused on Kyiv, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“03:18 01:15 13:00 03:17 06:45 01:46 01:46 26:50 01:19 20 Minutes with AFP Published May 24, 2026 at 06:01 The weapons continue to be deployed in large numbers in Ukraine”

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The attack killed at least 21 civilians in Kyiv, with scores more wounded, and over 50,000 Kyiv residents sheltered in its subway stations overnight, the Associated Press reported.

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CBC said Russia hammered Kyiv with an 11-hour drone and missile attack overnight into Thursday morning, killing at least 21 civilians in the city and injuring scores more, while Kyiv Metro said more than 50,000 people sheltered in subway stations after air raid warnings.

Zelenskyy said the bombardment also targeted the Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Cherkasy regions, and he urged the United States to quickly decide whether to give Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot air defense missiles.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the strikes solely targeted sites related to Ukraine’s military, according to state-run news source Tass, and he said they were conducted in retaliation for Ukrainian strikes.

The Kyiv City Military Administration Head Tymur Tkachenko said at least 27 people were killed and 91 injured, while the Kyiv Independent reported that search and rescue operations were ongoing at several sites including a partially collapsed multistory residential building in the Darnytskyi District.

In contrast, WORLD News Group and the Associated Press cited at least 21 civilians killed in the attack, and CBC also put the Kyiv death toll at at least 21 while saying more than 90 others were injured.

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Zelensky said Russia’s attack exposed Ukraine’s continuing shortage of air defense interceptors, telling journalists at the site in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, "If our partners had delivered what they promised on time, I think we could have saved more homes and, frankly, more lives,".

The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed Russian forces had targeted only "military or quasi-military targets," and said Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the attack, according to the Kyiv Independent.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the attacks a "night of horror" in the capital, while the Kyiv Independent said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the attack as the war's "most massive" attack on the capital.

Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent that Ukraine would need at least 140 Patriot missiles to intercept an attack involving around 70 ballistic missiles, arguing Kyiv was not asking for additional commitments but for previously agreed military assistance to be delivered.

The Kyiv Independent also reported that Zelensky said, "Putin is losing this war," and that the only thing he could do was "intimidate people and simply kill civilians with missile strikes."

CBC said Russia fired 74 missiles and 496 drones in the attack, while Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 48 missiles and 476 drones, and it noted that it is harder to stop ballistic missiles, which accounted for roughly a third of the missiles fired overnight.

The Kyiv Independent reported that Kyiv’s metro sheltered a record 52,500 people, including nearly 4,500 children, during Russia's overnight attack, and it said all 46 underground stations served as bomb shelters during the air raid.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Telegram, "This night, Russia once again carried out a cynical, large-scale attack on Ukraine," and she added, "The enemy launched dozens of ballistic missiles. Kyiv was hit the hardest."