Russia launches 'massive' strikes on Ukraine's capital

At least three people were killed and 49 injured in the strikes, according to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. BBC reported.

The aerial raids targeted Kyiv, as well as the city of Lutsk and the Ternopil region in the north-west of the country.

Russia's defence ministry said the strikes were in response to "terrorist acts by the Kyiv regime", adding that it had targeted military sites.

The ministry said its armed forces "overnight launched a massive strike with high-precision long-range air, sea and ground-based weapons, as well as attack drones".

The attack came after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned US President Donald Trump he would respond to Ukraine's recent strikes on Russian airbases.

In a post on X on Friday, Zelensky said that "now is exactly the moment when America, Europe, and everyone around the world can stop this war together by pressuring Russia".

He made a thinly veiled reference to Trump's apparent unwillingness to put pressure on Russia.

"If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives – that is complicity and accountability," Zelensky wrote. "We must act decisively."

Zelensky said that "as of now", three deaths had been confirmed in the strikes - all employees of Ukraine's state emergency services.

He said the attack used more than 400 drones and more than 40 missiles, and the number of people injured "may increase".

In an earlier statement, Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people had been killed in the country's capital.

Air raid alerts were in place in Kyiv, where a residential building was hit, and the city's train system was disrupted after shelling damaged metro tracks.

Tens of thousands of civilians in the capital spent a restless few hours in underground shelters.

From the centre of the city, prolonged bursts of machine gun fire could be heard as air defences on the outskirts attempted to bring down scores of drones aimed at Kyiv.

From time to time, the distinctive buzz of drones overhead could also be heard.

Bright flashes of light, sometimes reflected on nearby buildings, would be followed, five or ten seconds later, by thunderous explosions.