Russia strikes Ukraine with heavy wave of missiles and drones, 4 dead

At least four people have been killed after Russia launched an intense wave of drone and cruise missile strikes on Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian authorities said early on Friday.

Air raid sirens were heard in all regions across the country, as the Ukrainian Air Force warned that several Russian bombers had taken off and likely already fired cruise missiles.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least four people had died in the capital, with 20 injured.

“Search and rescue operations are ongoing in several locations,” he wrote on Telegram.

The Kiev City Military Administration said drones had hit multiple residential buildings throughout the city.

A gas station in the city’s Dniprovskyi district had “significant damage,” the administration reported on Telegram.

In north-western Ukraine, at least five people were injured in Russian attacks, Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk reported on Telegram.

According to the mayor, Russia attacked Lutsk with 15 drones and six missiles, damaging an apartment building, vehicles, businesses and a government institution.

It was unclear whether the attacks were part of a widely anticipated large-scale retaliation by Russia, following Ukraine’s coordinated drone strikes on several Russian military airfields deep behind the front lines last weekend.

Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three years. Talks to end the fighting have produced very limited results, and the warring parties are still far apart in their demands.