Russia used 69 missiles and 298 drones, including Iranian-designed Shahed drones, in the attack.
In what was the largest aerial attack since the beginning of the Russia–Ukraine war, Moscow launched 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight into May 25, leaving at least 12 dead and dozens injured, Ukrainian officials said.
Three of the dead were children in the northern region of Zhytomyr, officials in that area confirmed.
Russia utilized 69 missiles and 298 drones, including Iranian-designed Shahed drones, in the attack.
The air strike came hours before the third and final prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv, as the two nations have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in an effort to scale down the conflict, which began with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
On May 24, the two countries swapped 307 of their prisoners as part of the larger multi-day exchange after swapping 390 prisoners on May 23. Russia and Ukraine agreed the week prior during negotiations in Turkey for each side to release 1,000 prisoners of war captured during more than three years of fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United States, which has pushed for a cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia, to speak out against the overnight attack.
“The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” he wrote on Telegram. “Every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia.”
Moscow did not immediately comment on the attacks, but Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 110 Ukrainian drones with its air defenses overnight.
Russia’s missiles and drones hit more than 30 cities and villages, including Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Cherkasy, Zelenskyy said.
While the overnight assault was the largest attack of the war in terms of the number of weapons fired, other strikes have led to more fatalities.
At least 12 people perished in the attack and 60 more were injured, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
“This was a combined, ruthless strike aimed at civilians. The enemy once again showed that its goal is fear and death,” Klymenko wrote on Telegram.
Hours after the assault, Zelenskyy wrote in a post on social media platform X that 303 prisoners had been returned to Ukraine, saying the third part of the “1000-for-1000 exchange deal” negotiated in Turkey had been completed on May 25.
“Today, warriors of our Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service are returning home,” he said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also confirmed the swap, saying each country had welcomed home another 303 soldiers each on May 25, following the exchanges over the previous days.
Reaching a Cease-Fire Deal
Both Ukraine and its European allies have been pushing for Russia to sign a 30-day cease-fire agreement in an effort to end the more than three-year-long war.
Kyiv had wanted U.S. President Donald Trump to place additional sanctions on Moscow after Putin did not agree to immediately pause fighting.
Despite the large number of missiles and drones in the overnight attack, Ukraine’s air force said it was able to shoot down 266 drones and 45 missiles.
It was the second-largest aerial attack in two days after Russia shot dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at Kyiv on the evening of May 23.
“Without pressure, nothing will change and Russia and its allies will only build up forces for such murders in Western countries,” Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram. “Moscow will fight as long as it has the ability to produce weapons.”
Of the Ukrainian drones that Russia said it intercepted overnight, 12 had been shot down on their way to the capital, according to Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow.
On May 19, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said that Putin appeared to lack a plan to end the war.
“I’m not sure that Vladimir Putin has a strategy himself for how to unwind the war,” Vance told reporters aboard Air Force Two on May 19.
Both Vance and Trump have been pushing for Russia to agree to a cease-fire and ultimately end its war with Ukraine.
Ryan Morgan, Tom Ozimek, Reuters, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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