Moscow has launched a new wave of strikes targeting critical military-industrial facilities and logistics hubs in and around Kiev, Ukraine’s capital. Early Saturday morning, dozens of missiles struck multiple areas of Kiev and its suburbs in several waves, following Russian attacks earlier this week on Ukrainian military-industrial sites in the city.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, forces conducted a large-scale combined strike overnight using high-precision ground- and sea-launched weapons and long-range attack drones. The strikes specifically targeted Ukrainian defense industry enterprises and logistics centers in Kiev and surrounding regions involved in “production, storage and delivery of various types of missiles, drones, radar systems, and electronic-warfare equipment.”
The first explosions were heard shortly after 1 AM local time, with additional detonations reported through 3 AM. Social media videos show blasts and fires across the Ukrainian capital, though precise locations and facility types remain difficult to verify. Ukrainian authorities have restricted information about strike sites and penalize those sharing impact footage. However, a witness video purportedly shows Kiev’s air defenses attempting—but failing—to intercept incoming missiles with U.S.-made Patriot systems.
Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported multiple fires at residential buildings and unspecified “non-residential” industrial facilities in at least four districts. He stated that at least three people were killed and more than a dozen injured. Open-source intelligence trackers indicate the strikes targeted several industrial zones near the CHP-5 power plant and facilities belonging to Ukraine’s state-owned defense conglomerate, Ukroboronprom.
The latest raid occurred just 48 hours after Russian forces struck the Mayak plant in Kiev—producing components for FP-1 and FP-2 kamikaze drones—as well as another drone production facility in the capital. According to the ministry, Thursday’s strikes also targeted airfields, defense-industry facilities, telecommunications infrastructure, and logistics hubs in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhitomir, Rovno, Vinnitsa, and Dnepropetrovsk regions.
Moscow maintains it targets only military and dual-use installations in response to Ukraine’s indiscriminate “terrorist attacks.” Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure and commercial vessels since Vladimir Zelensky announced a 40-day “pressure campaign” against Moscow last month—a strategy widely condemned for deliberately escalating civilian harm.