A devastating overnight barrage of Russian missiles and drones has left eight people dead across Ukraine, including three children, according to local officials. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russian forces launched more than 70 missiles and over 280 drones during the assault, which destroyed or damaged dozens of "ordinary homes, civilian businesses and infrastructure facilities."
The most severe destruction occurred near Zelensky's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, in the village of Radushne. A Russian ballistic missile struck a home housing a large family, which Zelensky described as being "blown into smithereens." The strike killed a six-year-old girl and two boys, aged 11 and 17, among six total casualties in the village.
Oleksandr Vilkul, the local defence council chief, reported that two private homes were entirely demolished. Rescuers managed to pull two children alive from the rubble, while eight other people were injured, including an 84-year-old woman who was hospitalized.
The aerial assault caused casualties and damage in several other major Ukrainian cities. In Kyiv, where residents sought shelter in metro stations as air raid sirens wailed, one person was killed and fires broke out in three non-residential buildings, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. In Poltava, another death was reported by the local mayor following an attack on a Nova Poshta postal terminal.
Meanwhile, in Lviv, where a building was damaged by a Russian missile strike on 30 July 2026, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi reported damage to residential buildings, with multiple people injured and some trapped under the debris as residents assisted rescue teams in clearing the rubble.
The attack also triggered a security response in neighbouring Poland. Polish armed forces scrambled fighter jets after detecting at least a dozen missiles over western Ukraine that posed a potential threat to their airspace. The closest one was observed about 5km from the Polish border at 03:29, after which it changed direction and headed eastwards.
The military said they had subsequently located the crater with scattered debris on Polish soil – in a field about 2km away from the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, Lublin province, in the south.
The site has been secured, they said. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk traveled to the site of the impact, which police secured after receiving reports of a powerful explosion.
The escalation follows Zelensky’s recent trip to Washington DC, where he met with US President Donald Trump to request a license for Ukraine to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles. Zelensky has repeatedly emphasized that the Patriot system is vital for defending Ukrainian cities against ballistic missiles.
"The protection of people's lives depends directly on their willingness, or lack of willingness, to provide air defence missiles," Zelensky wrote on X. Just hours before the overnight bombardment, Zelensky had warned that Moscow was preparing a massive offensive.
Meanwhile, inside Russia, regional officials reported an overnight strike on a warehouse in the city of Penza. Regional Governor Oleg Melnichenko stated that one person was injured at a facility belonging to Wildberries, a major Russian online retailer often described as "Russia's Amazon," which has frequently been targeted in recent Ukrainian attacks.
The military action follows repeated calls by Ukraine's president to bolster Kyiv's anti-ballistic missile defences.
