Russia unleashed its largest ever assault on Ukraine’s capital early Thursday morning, killing at least 21 people and wounding 85 others in a relentless barrage of missiles and drones that lasted several hours.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the attack as the “enemy’s most massive attack on the capital” as explosions tore through apartment buildings across the city, leaving residents scrambling for shelter in underground metro stations.

The strikes began late Wednesday evening and continued into the early hours of Thursday, with AFP journalists reporting more than a dozen explosions across central and eastern Kyiv. Smoke billowed over the skyline as emergency services pulled bodies from the rubble of destroyed apartment blocks.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 496 drones and 74 missiles, including difficult-to-intercept ballistic projectiles. Ukrainian defences managed to shoot down 48 missiles and 476 drones.

Among the hardest hit areas was the eastern Darnytskyi district, where entire apartment buildings were ripped apart. Sabina Mambetova (32), a factory worker, stood outside what remained of her home. “Half the building has been destroyed. The roof is gone,” she said. “I’ve been left without an apartment, alone with my child. I don’t know what to do now.”

More than 52 000 people, including 4 500 children, packed into underground metro stations during the attack – the highest number in recent years. Others sheltered in basements and corridors as blasts shook buildings across the city.

Kateryna Kucheryava (32), a doctor, described the difficulty of protecting her child during the onslaught. “It’s hard. My child is used to sleeping in complete silence and darkness,” she told AFP from inside the metro. “I picked her up and carried her down. She woke up and now she’s not sleeping anymore.”

Along station platforms, families set up tents and lay on air mattresses and camping chairs, whilst mothers tried to sleep clutching babies to their chests.

The attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cut short a visit to Dublin, citing intelligence reports of an impending Russian strike. He later said Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been preparing this massive strike against Ukraine for some time now.”

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In Moscow, the Kremlin vowed to increase pressure on Kyiv, showing no signs of backing down more than four years into an invasion that has killed hundreds of thousands and become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

Zelensky called on Ukraine’s allies to send more air defence systems and asked the United States for licences to manufacture Patriot air defence missiles domestically. “Air defence supplies for Ukraine are an absolute and critical priority,” he said.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said she would propose new sanctions on Moscow in response to the attack.

Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks inside Russia in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure and military sites. Russian officials have reported repeated strikes in border regions, whilst Moscow claims its air defences have intercepted hundreds of Ukrainian drones in recent days.

US efforts to broker an end to the conflict have so far failed.

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