Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia launched a large-scale missile attack on Ukraine overnight on Nov. 17.
Explosions were reported in the capital Kyiv around 6:30 a.m. local time, according to a Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground. Further explosions were also heard in the cities of Kropyvnytskyi, Cherkasy, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia.
The Kyiv Oblast Military Administration said that as a result of falling debris, the roof of a five-story residential building caught fire in the Pechersk neighborhood of the city. At least one person was injured in the attack.
Ukraine’s Air Force issued the air raid alerts across all regions the country around 6 a.m. local time, warning of the attack.
Multiple cruise and ballistic missiles were reportedly launched from the Black Sea, as well as Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast and Krasnodar Krai, toward multiple regions. Russian attack drones are also present within multiple cities across the country, including Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported earlier in the night that Tu-95 strategic bombers took off from the Russian airfields of Olenya in Murmansk Oblast. Later in the night, the War Monitor Telegram channel reported that a total of 17 Tu-95 strategic bombers were in flight, with seven taking off at the Engels airbase in Saratov Oblast.
In recent months, Russia has primarily focused on large-scale drone attacks to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses in cities across the country. The Ukrainian Air Force previously said that Russia launched at least 4,300 Shahed-type attack drones and similar UAVs imitating Shaheds against Ukraine between August and October 2024.
While missile attacks are a common occurrence in Ukraine eastern oblasts, most Ukrainian regions have largely been spared from large-scale Russian missile attacks on infrastructure in recent months.
Dmytro Basmat
