Russia Launches One of Their Largest Air Strikes on Kyiv

Russia launched one of the largest airstrikes on Kyiv and Odesa overnight on Tuesday, June 10, reportedly targeting seven districts of the Ukrainian capital.

Knewz.com has learned that the overnight barrage, which included 315 Iranian-made Shahed drones and seven missiles, killed at least three people, according to officials.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said in a statement that it was a “tough night for all of us.”

According to Tkachenko, one person was killed in the overnight airstrike on Kyiv, while Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported on Telegram that four other people were wounded in the attack and rushed to the hospital by medical personnel.

It has been reported that while Russia has increased the intensity of aerial attacks on Ukraine recently, the previous attacks on Kyiv mostly involved a “handful” of drones.

“Hiding in basements, public shelters and corridors and bathrooms – often the safest spots in their homes – Kyiv residents could hear and feel the loud thuds of explosions. Dozens of drones were heard flying over the city center over a period of about three hours, sometimes a few at a time,” reports have mentioned.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on Tuesday’s airstrike on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, “Today was one of the largest attacks on Kyiv… Russian strikes with missiles and Shaheds [drones] are louder than the efforts of the United States and others in the world to force Russia to peace.”

“Every night, instead of a ceasefire, there have been massive strikes with Shaheds, cruise missiles and ballistics. Today was one of the largest strikes on Kyiv. Odesa, the Dnipro region and Chernihiv region were also targeted,” Zelensky further wrote.

“Ordinary houses and urban infrastructure were damaged, and even a maternity hospital in Odesa became a Russian target. Thirteen people were injured. Unfortunately, there are fatalities. My condolences to the relatives.”

President Zelensky also called for “concrete actions” in response to Russia’s escalated aerial attacks in his social media statement, writing:

“It is important that the response to this and other similar Russian strikes is not the silence of the world but concrete actions. Actions by America, which has the power to force Russia to peace. The actions of Europe, which has no alternative but to be strong. The actions of others in the world who have called for diplomacy and an end to the war and who have been ignored by Russia. Hard pressure is needed for peace.”

According to reports, the massive airstrike also damaged Saint Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in the historic centre of Kyiv.

Mykola Tochytskyi, the Culture Minister of Ukraine, wrote on Facebook that “the enemy struck at the very heart of our identity again,” calling the Cathedral “the soul of all Ukraine.”

The airstrike on Kyiv coincided with a separate wave of drone strikes on the southern city of Odesa, which caused heavy damage to an emergency medical building, a maternity ward, and residential buildings, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper.

According to a Telegram post from the region’s Prosecutor’s Office, at least two men were killed in the attack and nine people were injured, including five women and three men.

“During the night of June 10, the armed forces of the Russian Federation attacked Odesa with strike drones. Preliminary reports indicate that the enemy used more than 10 UAVs… Residential buildings were damaged, along with the building of a maternity hospital, an emergency medical station, a private medical clinic, a sports complex, a zoo, the railway station building, as well as private citizens’ vehicles,” the Telegram post read.

The Odesa Regional Prosecutor’s Office further said that it had launched “a pre-trial investigation into war crimes that resulted in human fatalities.”

It is worth noting that the massive airstrike on Kyiv and Odesa came a day after Russia launched what is being considered the biggest drone assault of the Ukraine war.

The overnight salvo fired on June 9 included nearly 500 kamikaze attack drones and 20 missiles of various types targeting central and western Ukraine.

It has been reported that most of the drones fired by Russia were Iranian-made Shahed models launched from Russian-occupied Crimea and the Russian regions of Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk.

The Air Force of Ukraine reported that the nation’s air defenses downed 277 drones and 19 missiles in mid-flight on Sunday night, claiming that only 10 drones or missiles hit their targets.

Russian officials have said that the intensified aerial assaults on Ukraine are part of a series of retaliatory strikes for “Operation Spiderweb“—the most extensive and far-reaching Ukrainian drone attack to date.

On Thursday, June 5, Putin’s forces launched two back-to-back glide bomb strikes on the key city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, causing heavy damage to the Regional Administration building.

According to reports, the attack damaged the regional administration building, destroyed the entrance to a nearby residential building, and shattered hundreds of windows in surrounding structures, including three educational institutions.

Yurii Sobolevskyi, first deputy head of the Kherson Regional Council, sustained a concussion and blast trauma during the initial attack and called the strike “pure terrorism.”

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