Russia dealt one of the biggest blows to Kyiv

Russia applied Kyiv and a number of regions Ukraine one of the biggest combined strikes in recent years. The attack, according to the Ukrainian side and Western media, used various types of missiles and hundreds of attack drones.

Night of May 23rd for residents Kyiv again passed to the sounds of explosions, sirens and air defense. The blow hit not only the Ukrainian capital, but also other regions of the country. Ukrainian authorities reported damage to residential buildings, civil infrastructure, industrial sites and a market in the area Lukyanovka.

????? More footage is surfacing of the Russian cruise missile strikes pounding Kyiv overnightpic.twitter.com/JbAvVNBZCf https://t.co/4IZedzpT23

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 24, 2026

#UkraineRussiaWar
Kyiv is in shock pic.twitter.com/sUsoiYO7Sl

— Military Summary (@MilitarySummary) May 24, 2026

According to the Ukrainian side and Western media, dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones were involved in the attack. Among the means used were rockets “Iskander”, “Caliber”, X-101, “Dagger” And “Zircon”. Some of the air targets were shot down by Ukrainian air defense, but such a large-scale combined attack was not completely stopped.

Moscow stated that the target of the strike was military control facilities, airfields and enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex. However, the Ukrainian side also reported serious destruction in civilian areas. In particular, after the attack in Lukyanovka the market caught fire, shopping pavilions and nearby buildings were damaged.

Such strikes have long become not only a military, but also a political instrument of pressure. Kremlin seeks to show that it retains the ability to carry out large-scale strikes on Ukrainian territory, despite regular attacks by Ukrainian drones on targets inside Russia. According to the Kremlin, this was a “response” to the attack on a college in Starobelsk, where The impact killed 21 students.

For Vladimir Zelensky and the Ukrainian leadership, the new attack became another argument in favor of increasing Western military assistance, especially modern air defense systems and ammunition for them. Ukrainian authorities have long warned that with such a scale of shelling, even effective air defense cannot cover the entire sky over the country.

For Vladimir Putin Such attacks also fulfill an internal political purpose. Against the background of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries, warehouses, airfields and other facilities inside Russia, it is important for the Kremlin to demonstrate that it is capable of responding with force and retains the initiative. True, this demonstration again follows the usual scenario: statements of military goals, fires in city neighborhoods and another night in shelters for civilians.

Massive attack on Kyiv and regions Ukraine shows that the war is moving deeper into the format of mutual pressure on infrastructure, the rear and the psychological stability of society. Russia is trying to overload Ukrainian air defense with combined strikes, Ukraine is responding with drone attacks on Russian territory. As a result, both sides are increasingly moving the war to the rear zones, where the cost of each strike is measured not only by military targets, but also by destroyed houses, burned-out markets and people who again descend into shelters.

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