Russia-Ukraine: 6 Dead, 80 Injured In Kyiv As Moscow Launches 400 Drones Days After Air Base Attack

At least six people were killed and eighty others were injured in a fresh escalation as Moscow on Friday launched a massive drone and missile strike on Ukraine's capital Kyiv, and other areas, days after a Ukrainian drone attack targeting Russian air bases.

Confirming the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian attack had used more than 400 drones.

"Today, rescue and emergency operations continued all day across various regions and cities of our country. Over 400 drones, more than 40 missiles were launched by the Russians. 80 people were injured, and some may still be under the debris. And unfortunately, not everyone in the world condemns such attacks. This is exactly what Putin exploits. He is buying himself time to keep waging war", Zelenskyy said in a video message on X.

"The Russians constantly try to drive wedges into the unity of the world in order to prevent stronger pressure for their war. We must clearly see the task at hand. Diplomacy must work, security guarantees must be ensured, and peace must be established. For that, initial steps are needed, particularly a ceasefire. Pressure must be applied on Russia to make that happen and to stop the attacks", Zelenskyy added.

Sharing further details of the large-scale assault, Ukrainian officials said that cruise missiles and hundreds of drones were launched targeting Kyiv, Chernihiv, Lutsk and Ternopil.

Russia said the strikes targeting the military sites were in response to "terrorist acts by the Kyiv regime", as per BBC. Russia's defence ministry said its armed forces had "launched a massive strike with high-precision long-range air, sea and ground-based weapons, as well as attack drones" on Thursday night.

The attack came after Putin warned US President Donald Trump he would respond to Ukraine's recent strikes in several Russian regions. Late on Friday, Trump told reporters that the Ukrainians had given "Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night".

Ukraine Drone Attack

On June 2, Ukraine's Security Service confirmed on Sunday that a Ukrainian drone attack destroyed more than 40 Russian planes deep in the foreign territory, while Moscow launched 472 drones against Ukraine, marking as the biggest drone attack since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The drone attack came the same day as Zelenskyy said Ukraine is scheduled to send a delegation to Istanbul for a new round of direct peace talks with Russia on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his evening address, said that 117 drones had been used in the operation. He claimed the operation had been headquartered out of an office next to the local FSB headquarters. The FSB is the Russian intelligence and security service.

The social media footage shared by Russian media appeared to show the drones rising from inside containers while other panels lay discarded on the road.

One clip appeared to show men climbing onto a truck in an attempt to halt the drones.

A military official, who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose operational details, said the far-reaching attack took more than a year and a half to execute and was personally supervised by .

The military official reportedly said it was an "extremely complex" operation, involving the smuggling of first-person view, or FPV, drones to Russia, where they were then placed in mobile wooden houses.