On this picture offered by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters attempt to put out a fireplace following a Russian assault in Kyiv area, Ukraine, Sunday, Could 25, 2025.
AP/Ukrainian Emergency Service
disguise caption
toggle caption
AP/Ukrainian Emergency Service
KYIV, Ukraine — A large Russian drone-and-missile assault focused the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and different areas within the nation for a second consecutive evening, killing at the least 12 folks and injuring dozens, officers mentioned early Sunday.
The dimensions of the onslaught was gorgeous — Russia hit Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles, making this the biggest single assault of the greater than three-years-long conflict, in line with Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Drive.
In all, Russia used 69 missiles of assorted varieties and 298 drones, together with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, he instructed The Related Press.
It was “probably the most huge strike when it comes to the variety of air assault weapons on the territory of Ukraine for the reason that starting of the full-scale invasion in 2022,” Ihnat mentioned.
There was no fast remark from Moscow.
For Kyiv, the day was notably somber as the town observes Kyiv Day, a nationwide vacation that falls on the final Sunday of Could commemorating its founding within the fifth century,
‘Deliberate strikes on atypical cities’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned that Russian missiles and drones hit greater than 30 cities and villages throughout Ukraine and urged Western companions to ramp up sanctions on Russia.
That has been a long-standing demand of the Ukrainian chief however one which — regardless of warnings to Moscow by the USA and Europe — haven’t materialized in methods to discourage Russia.
Zelenskyy wrote on X that Sunday’s targets included Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Cherkasy areas.
“These have been deliberate strikes on atypical cities. Atypical residential buildings have been destroyed and broken,” he mentioned.
“With out actually robust strain on the Russian management, this brutality can’t be stopped. Sanctions will definitely assist,” Zelenskyy mentioned. “Willpower issues now — the willpower of the USA, of European nations, and of all these all over the world who search peace.”
On this picture offered by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a neighborhood resident cries standing amid the rubble of her home ruined after Russia’s air assault in Khmelnytskyi area, Ukraine, Sunday, Could 25, 2025.
AP/Ukrainian Emergency Service
disguise caption
toggle caption
AP/Ukrainian Emergency Service
The assault got here on the third day of a deliberate prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, the one tangible consequence from peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month which have up to now failed to supply a ceasefire. The trade amounted to a uncommon second of cooperation between the warring sides.
In the meantime, Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned its air defenses shot down 110 Ukrainian drones in a single day.
The ‘most huge Russian air assault’
Sounds of explosions boomed all through the evening in Kyiv and the encompassing space as Ukrainian air protection forces endured for hours in efforts to shoot down enemy drones and missiles. Not less than 4 folks have been killed and 16 have been injured within the capital itself, in line with Ukraine’s safety service.
“A tough Sunday morning in Ukraine after a sleepless evening. Essentially the most huge Russian air assault in lots of weeks lasted all evening,” Ukrainian Overseas Minister Andrii Sybiha mentioned on X.
Fires broke out in properties and companies, set off by falling drone particles.
Within the area of Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, three kids have been killed, aged 8, 12 and 17, in line with the emergency service. Twelve have been injured within the assaults, the service mentioned. Not less than 4 folks have been killed within the Khmelnytskyi area, in western Ukraine. One man was killed in Mykolaiv area, in southern Ukraine.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned a pupil dormitory in Holosiivskyi district was hit by a drone and one of many constructing’s partitions was on hearth. In Dniprovskyi district, a non-public home was destroyed and in Shevchenkivskyi district, home windows in a residential constructing have been smashed.
The dimensions of Russia’s use of aerial weapons, the assaults over the previous 48 hours have been among the many most intense strikes on Ukraine for the reason that February 2022 full-scale conflict. The final in a three-day prisoner swap was anticipated to happen afterward Sunday.
A village engulfed in smoke and rubble
Within the village of Markhalivka, simply outdoors Kyiv, the place a number of properties have been burned down within the in a single day strikes, the Fedorenkos watched their ruined residence in tears.
“The road appears like Bakhmut, like Mariupol, it is simply horrible,” says 76-year-old Liubov Fedorenko, evaluating their village to a few of Ukraine’s most devastated cities within the conflict. She instructed the AP how grateful she was her daughter had not joined them for the weekend along with her household.
“I used to be making an attempt to influence my daughter to come back to us,” Fedorenko mentioned, including she instructed her daughter, “In spite of everything, you reside on the eighth ground in Kyiv, and right here it is the bottom ground.'”
“She mentioned, ‘No, mum, I am not coming.’ And thank God she did not come, as a result of the rocket hit (the home) on the aspect the place the youngsters’s rooms have been,” Fedorenko mentioned.
On this picture offered by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters attempt to put out a fireplace following a Russian assault in Kyiv area, Ukraine, Sunday, Could 25, 2025.
AP/Ukrainian Emergency Service
disguise caption
toggle caption
AP/Ukrainian Emergency Service
Ivan Fedorenko, 80, mentioned he regrets letting their two canines into the home after the air raid siren went off. “They burned to dying,” he mentioned. “I need to bury them, however I am not allowed but.”
Regardless of POW swaps, no letup within the conflict
Zelenskyy and Russia’s protection ministry mentioned both sides introduced residence 307 extra troopers the day past, on Saturday, a day after both sides launched a complete of 390 combatants and civilians. As soon as accomplished, the swap will quantity to the biggest trade of prisoners in additional than three years of conflict.
“We count on extra to come back tomorrow,” Zelenskyy mentioned on his official Telegram channel on Saturday. Russia’s protection ministry additionally mentioned it anticipated the trade to be continued, although it didn’t give particulars.
The earlier evening, explosions and anti-aircraft hearth have been heard all through Kyiv as many sought shelter in subway stations as Russian drones and missiles focused the Ukrainian capital.
The continuing POW trade, the newest of dozens of swaps for the reason that conflict started and the largest involving Ukrainian civilians up to now didn’t carry a halt within the preventing.
Battles have continued alongside the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) entrance line, the place tens of hundreds of troopers have been killed, and neither nation has relented in its deep strikes.
