Russia launched a massive strike on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, using ballistic missiles and drones on Saturday, 27 December 2025, killing at least one person and wounding 27 others.

The assault occurred just a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida for crucial talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.

Explosions reverberated across Kyiv from the early morning, with the barrage continuing for several hours. Authorities reported strikes on seven locations in the capital, including residential buildings, industrial sites, and energy infrastructure.

Zelenskyy condemned the attack as Russia's direct response to Ukraine's peace efforts. "This attack is Russia's answer on our peace efforts. It really shows that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin doesn't want peace," he stated after a stopover in Canada, where he met Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Carney announced $1.8 billion in economic assistance to Ukraine, designed to unlock further financing from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for reconstruction and development. He described the overnight assault on Kyiv as "barbarism" and stressed the importance of standing with Ukraine during this challenging period.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed responsibility for a "massive strike" employing long-range precision-guided weapons from land, air, and sea platforms, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles and drones. It asserted that the targets were energy infrastructure supporting Ukraine's military and military-industrial enterprises.

Despite these claims, several residential buildings suffered direct hits, with more than 10 damaged across Kyiv, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. In the Dnipro district, a fire erupted in an 18-story apartment block, while a 24-story building in the Darnytsia district was also struck, alongside outbreaks in Obolonskyi and Holosiivsky districts.

Eyewitness Olena Karpenko, 52, recounted the horror of hearing a man burn to death in the blaze. "His scream is still in my ears. I can't believe it," she said, weeping, after an initial explosion at a nearby thermal power plant was followed by a stronger blast that shook her home.

Two children were among the wounded, and a body was recovered from rubble in one damaged building, as reported by Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv Military Administration. It remains unclear if this was the individual Karpenko heard. In the wider Kyiv region, particularly Vyshhorod, rescuers pulled one person from the debris of a destroyed house.

Ukraine's largest private energy firm, DTEK, reported extensive power outages affecting hundreds of thousands of customers in Kyiv, with some districts left without electricity or heating. Zelenskyy noted that the main targets included energy and civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine's air force detailed the scale of the onslaught: Russia deployed 519 drones and 40 missiles. The Russian side framed the strike as retaliation for Ukraine's attacks on civilian objects in Russia.

Earlier that day, Russia's Defense Ministry reported downing seven Ukrainian drones over Krasnodar and Adygeya regions overnight, followed by 147 more across various areas in the afternoon. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin added that air defenses intercepted over 20 drones heading towards the capital, with no reported damage or casualties.

In a move interpreted as heightening pressure ahead of the Zelenskyy-Trump meeting, the Kremlin released a video on Saturday night showing Putin, dressed in military fatigues, receiving updates from top commanders in an undisclosed military post.

Russia's General Staff chief, General Valery Gerasimov, informed Putin that Russian forces had seized full control of Myrnohrad (referred to by its Soviet-era name Dimitrov) in Donetsk, Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia, and several other settlements. Putin warned that if Kyiv refused peaceful resolution, Russia would achieve its "special military operation" goals through military means.

Ukraine's General Staff dismissed these assertions as fabrications unsupported by facts. It described the situation in Huliaipole as "difficult but ongoing" for defensive operations, and "challenging" in Myrnohrad. The statement accused Russia's leadership of peddling false claims of battlefield successes.

The Zelenskyy-Trump discussions, set for Sunday in Florida, will cover security guarantees, territorial issues in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, and efforts to minimise unresolved matters while respecting Ukraine's red lines. Zelenskyy prioritised security guarantees akin to NATO's Article 5, where an attack on Ukraine would prompt a collective response from the US and allies, though key details require a bilateral agreement.

Territorial concessions represent the most sensitive topic. Zelenskyy aims to ensure as few open issues as possible in the talks.

The strikes prompted Poland to scramble fighter jets and temporarily close airports in Lublin and Rzeszow near the Ukrainian border. The Polish armed forces confirmed no airspace violations, and operations resumed later, though the trigger for the alert—amid strikes focused on distant Kyiv—remains unclear.

This escalation underscores the fragile state of peace negotiations, with Russia demonstrating military resolve just before high-level diplomacy, while Ukraine and its allies reinforce commitments to Kyiv's defence and recovery.

Based On AP Report