Russia unleashed a wave of ballistic missiles and attack drones across Ukraine overnight Thursday, killing at least eight civilians and wounding dozens more, while a suspected Russian cruise missile reportedly crashed inside NATO member Poland. The strikes hit at least 10 Ukrainian regions as Moscow continues to press its advantage amid Kyiv's ongoing shortage of Western-supplied air defense interceptors.
The barrage struck targets in at least 10 Ukrainian regions, including Kyiv, Lviv, and western areas near the Polish border. The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation focused on airfields, defense plants, drone production facilities, missile manufacturing sites, and logistics hubs. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the attacks as he returned from Washington, where he pressed President Donald Trump for additional Patriot missile systems — only to learn that American stockpiles have been depleted by the separate conflict with Iran, leaving Kyiv's air-defense gap unresolved for now.
The Russian military said the overnight strikes hit The Mayak plant in Kyiv, which produces components for kamikaze drones, along with a second drone factory in the capital. In Lviv, two facilities involved in producing missile engines and electronic components for long-range weapons were also struck, according to the ministry. Additional sites tied to the production of Neptun-MD and FB-5 Flamingo missiles, along with naval drones, were targeted elsewhere in the country.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, six people died, including a 6-year-old girl and boys aged 11 and 17; their parents were killed in the same strike. "It was an ordinary home, blown (to) smithereens by a ballistic missile," Zelensky said. Two sources told Reuters that a North Korean-made missile was likely used in the deadly strike near Kryvyi Rih — the first such weapon Russia is believed to have fired in the war in nearly a year, since a confirmed strike in August 2025. One source said the renewed use points to a fresh stockpile Moscow can draw on as it escalates its missile campaign.
A ballistic missile hit Kyiv, killing a 31-year-old man and injuring two others, while a separate cruise missile strike in Lviv wounded 34 people, including three children. Zelensky said Russia fired more than 70 missiles and 280 drones overnight; Ukrainian forces intercepted more than 260 of the drones.
A Russian Kh-101 cruise missile is believed to have crossed into Polish airspace overnight, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk inspected the suspected impact site near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia.
"All the indications are that it was a Russian Kh-101 ballistic missile, but we want to be 100% certain about the type of missile and who launched it," Tusk said. "There was no direct threat because the missile landed in an uninhabited area; we were ready to shoot it down had it continued its flight."
A Ukrainian official, speaking anonymously with a CBS News reporter, said the object was "indeed a KH-101 missile cruise missile that incurred into Poland and fell there," adding that the incident underscores the need to bolster Ukraine's own air defenses.
Ukraine retaliated by striking two Wildberries warehouses in Russia's Penza and Sarapul regions; the Russian e-commerce firm reported one worker injured. Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 258 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Zelensky, fresh off his Washington trip, said the shortage of interceptors has forced Ukrainian troops into a difficult position. "Given the critical shortage of air defense missiles from our partners, our warriors are accomplishing truly incredible things, demonstrating a very high level of professionalism," he said.
Trump has floated licensing Ukraine to build its own Patriot batteries domestically, but that process could take years — a timeline that raises fresh questions about how much longer American taxpayers will be asked to bankroll a war with no clear end in sight.
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