KYIV: Russia launched a major overnight ballistic missile and drone assault on cities across Ukraine early Tuesday morning, killing at least nine people, injuring dozens more, and triggering widespread blackouts.

In Dnipro, the strikes killed five people and injured 25, while in the capital city of Kyiv, four people were killed and at least 51 others were injured.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that the bombardment hit two high-rise apartment buildings, leaving residents feared trapped under the rubble, while also sparking fires near a gas station, a construction site, and an industrial facility in Zaporizhzhia.

The massive bombardment follows intelligence warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and follows recent statements from Moscow threatening “systematic strikes” on the capital.

Russia claimed the assault was a response to a previous Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian-held dormitory in the Luhansk region that killed 21 people—an operation Ukraine’s Armed Forces acknowledged but stated targeted a Russian military unit.

Meanwhile, inside Russia, emergency services reported a fire at the Ilsky Oil Refinery in Krasnodar Krai following a retaliatory Ukrainian drone strike, though no casualties were reported at the facility.