A Russia mass attack on Ukraine overnight into Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, sent waves of ballistic and cruise missiles and attack drones toward Kyiv and at least a dozen other regions, killing at least 15 people, most of them in a single apartment block in the northern city of Pryluky, according to the Kyiv Independent. The strike landed on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky described it as one of the largest Russian strikes since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, saying Russia fired about 70 missiles along with drones, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. Casualty counts were still rising Wednesday afternoon as rescuers searched rubble.
Pryluky apartment strike drives the death toll
In Pryluky, in Chernihiv Oblast, a Russian missile hit an ordinary five-story residential building, killing at least 14 people, including four children, and wounding at least 50, including seven children, the Kyiv Independent reported. Zelensky said people might still be trapped under the debris and that first responders were working around the clock.
In Kyiv, city authorities said two people were killed in the Darnytskyi district. Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported a strike on a non-residential area in Obolon and hits on warehouse facilities in Podil. Explosions were first heard in the capital at about 3:15 a.m. local time, with a second wave roughly two hours later. Missile strikes also damaged five apartment buildings in Dnipro and four high-rises in Kremenchuk, and transport infrastructure was hit in Zaporizhzhia.
Missile and drone numbers from Ukraine’s Air Force
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 130 attack drones, 48 cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles and an unspecified number of ballistic missiles. By 10 a.m. Kyiv time, air defenses had shot down or suppressed 39 of the cruise missiles, 117 of the drones and five ballistic missiles, with hits recorded at 18 locations.
The barrage followed a Zelensky warning on Oct. 6 that fresh intelligence pointed to a looming massive strike. Speaking after a coordination meeting, he said Ukraine was securing ammunition for its F-16s and more interceptor missiles, but that defense against ballistic missiles “depends entirely on our partners,” Kyiv Post reported. Germany’s latest package, covered in our report on Germany Ukraine aid and IRIS-T missiles, was aimed squarely at that gap.
Moscow says it targeted Flamingo missile production
Russia’s Defense Ministry called the operation a “massive strike” on military-industrial facilities. It said targets included sites where Ukrainian company Fire Point makes and stores Flamingo cruise missiles and long-range drones in Kyiv, along with sites in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Kharkiv regions, plus port and ship-repair infrastructure around Odesa. Zelensky said the energy sector was a key target.
The attack came a day after Ukraine’s own record long-range campaign. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it intercepted 1,750 Ukrainian drones and 17 Flamingo missiles over 24 hours, surpassing the previous record of 1,671 drones claimed on Aug. 18, according to Kyiv Post. Moscow officials said two people were killed in the Moscow region and more than 200 flights at the capital’s airports were delayed or canceled.
Russia mass attack on Ukraine widens winter strike campaign
Both sides have stepped up long-range strikes on infrastructure ahead of winter. In recent days Russia has repeatedly hit Kyiv’s Dnipro River crossings, as detailed in our coverage of the Kyiv bridge strikes, following earlier Russia Kyiv power grid strikes that killed four. Zelensky said Ukrainian forces hit two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions over the same 24 hours.
Diplomacy has so far failed to slow the fighting. India’s foreign minister said this week that New Delhi has become “a little more involved beyond advocacy” in talks with both governments on Black Sea shipping and energy, according to the Indian Express, but no ceasefire is in place.