Russia has launched one of its largest air assaults on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The attack, which occurred overnight into Sunday, May 25, 2025, involved a massive barrage of 367 drones and missiles, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.
Key details of the assault include:
- Scale: Ukrainian officials stated that Russia launched 69 missiles and 298 drones, including Iranian-designed Shahed drones, making it the most massive strike in terms of the number of air attack weapons.
- Casualties: At least 12 people were killed, including three children in the Zhytomyr region, and dozens more were injured across the country.
- Targets: The strikes hit over 30 cities and villages, with explosions reported in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Cherkasy regions. Residential buildings, a student dormitory, and civilian infrastructure were damaged or destroyed.
- Tactics: Russia reportedly used a combination of ballistic missiles, air- and sea-launched cruise missiles, and a large number of drones, with an apparent tactical shift towards using more cost-effective drones to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses.
- Context: This massive assault followed another intense wave of attacks the previous night and occurred as Russia and Ukraine completed a major prisoner exchange, a rare instance of cooperation amidst ongoing hostilities.
- Reactions: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the “deliberate strikes on ordinary cities” and urged Western partners to ramp up sanctions on Russia.
While Ukraine’s air defense forces claimed to have shot down a significant number of incoming drones and missiles, the sheer scale of the attack resulted in widespread damage and casualties. Russia, for its part, also claimed to have intercepted over 100 Ukrainian drones targeting its own territory overnight.
