Russia’s nighttime assault on Kiev and its suburbs left four dead and dozens of injured, according to Ukrainian officials.

According to the Ukrainian capital’s mayor, Vitaly Klitschko, two people were killed inside the city, while two others died in the Kiev region, according to the local governor.

The attacks came days after a deadly Ukrainian strike on a Russian-held area of Luhansk, with Vladimir Putin having warned there would be retaliation.

According to Klitschko, Russian forces launched a massive attack with missiles and drones causing extensive damage to the city. At least 13 people were injured, with seven of them hospitalized.

Reporters from the French News Agency who were in Kiev reported hearing successive powerful explosions, while orbital missiles lit up the sky during the night.

Schools and shelters were hit

Kiev’s mayor said a school in the Shevchenkivsky district was hit, while at another educational institution debris blocked the entrance to a shelter where local residents had taken refuge.

At the same time, an air raid alert was sounded throughout Ukraine. The Ukrainian military called it a “massive” attack that included different types of missiles and drones.

A few hours before the strikes, Volodymyr Zelensky had publicly warned of a possible major Russian attack.

“We see signs of preparation for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kiev, using various types of weaponry. These medium-range weapons may be used in such a strike,” the Ukrainian president wrote in X, referring to the Russian supersonic missile Oresnik.

At the same time, he urged citizens to immediately go to shelters in case of an alarm.

Warning also from the US embassy

The US embassy in Kiev had also expressed concern, which said it had received information about a possible “significant air attack” that could occur at any time.

The Oresnik missile, which Moscow says could even carry a nuclear warhead, has already been deployed in Belarus, a country bordering Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine.

The new escalation comes after a Ukrainian strike on school buildings in Starbilsk in the occupied Luhansk region, where at least 18 people were killed and more than 40 wounded.

Kiev denied it was targeting civilians and claimed the target was a drone command unit.

Poland was monitoring airspace

The Polish armed forces said they conducted preventive air operations after Russian strikes in Ukraine, but no violation of Polish airspace was detected.

The Polish military said the measures were taken to protect areas close to the zones where the attacks were recorded.