Twenty-five people were killed and around 100 others injured in widespread Russian missile and drone strikes targeting the capital Kyiv and several Ukrainian regions overnight and on the morning of Wednesday 7 October 2026, according to a toll announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as rescue teams continued clearing rubble and dealing with damage at the targeted sites.
Zelenskyy said the attack was a combined operation involving a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles, along with Shahed drones. He added that Ukrainian forces shot down 44 missiles and intercepted or disabled 117 drones, noting that air defences had been unable to counter all the projectiles, particularly the ballistic missiles.
Pryluky records highest death toll
According to information released by Ukrainian authorities, the children killed included three aged one year each and an eight-year-old, before a fifth child was found under the rubble. Fatalities were also reported in three other Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. In the capital, the strikes hit several districts and damaged residential buildings and other facilities.
Widespread damage and rescue operations in Kyiv
Emergency teams found the bodies of two people while extinguishing a fire that spread across 200 square metres inside a garage complex in the Darnytskyi district, while bomb disposal experts worked to dismantle an unexploded ballistic missile found among residential buildings in the same district. Ukrainian police said the operation involved securing the site, separating the warhead from the missile and transporting it to a designated area for disposal.
Access to the area was restricted while police and emergency service teams worked, and residents were urged to stay away from the site. Kyiv was hit in several waves overnight and in the morning, and a building at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio housing three filming locations was also damaged.
The studio management confirmed that no one was killed at the site, while rescue teams, police and medical crews dealt with the aftermath of the strike. Damage also extended to a central warehouse for automotive products containing oils, batteries, parts and other supplies, while the operating company confirmed that its employees were safe.
Fires also broke out at various sites, including a car parked in the courtyard of a residential building in the Obolonskyi district, before firefighters brought them under control. Subsequent strikes on Kyiv's Obolonskyi and Solomianskyi districts caused further injuries, and several injured people were taken to hospital.
Falling drone debris also started a fire inside a five-storey building, while some areas of the capital experienced partial power cuts after explosions on Wednesday evening. In the city of Kremenchuk in the Poltava region, regional military administration head Vitalii Diakivnych announced that two people had been killed and seven others injured, as rescue operations continued.
He said the strikes were aimed at spreading fear among residents and preventing them from feeling safe inside their homes. Footage from one of the targeted sites in Kyiv showed extensive damage caused by the strikes, while rescue and emergency teams moved among the damaged buildings to extinguish fires, clear debris and secure areas where missiles or projectile fragments had fallen.
Russia says military facilities targeted
For its part, Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out a widespread strike targeting industrial facilities linked to the production and storage of missiles and drones across Ukraine. It added that the attack hit port and ship-repair facilities in the Odesa region, as well as vessels it said were transporting cargo for the Ukrainian army.
Zelenskyy said Russian ballistic missiles remained the greatest challenge for Ukrainian defences, calling on countries supporting Kyiv to speed up deliveries of air-defence missiles. He added that defence batteries needed a ready daily stock of interceptor missiles to counter repeated attacks. The Ukrainian president had said the previous day that intelligence agencies had detected Russian preparations for a large-scale attack.
Speaking after the strikes, he said Moscow had wanted the attack to be “painful and spectacular”, and urged world leaders not to remain silent about the deaths and the continuation of air raids.
