Russian forces unleashed a major barrage of drones and missiles across Ukraine overnight, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv and striking critical infrastructure in the western city of Lviv with a suspected hypersonic weapon.
Capital Under Fire as Death Toll Rises
The assault on Kyiv began just before midnight on Thursday, 8 January 2026, with officials confirming the death toll had risen to four by Friday morning. Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated that 19 people were injured, with 14 requiring hospital treatment. Among the dead was an emergency medic who had responded to a suburban apartment block that was struck by two drones in quick succession; four of his colleagues were wounded in the same incident.
Significant damage was reported to residential buildings and infrastructure across several districts. In the Desnyanskyi district, a drone crashed through the roof of a multi-storey building, while in the Dnipro district, debris from a downed drone sparked a fire. The attacks disrupted running water and electricity supplies for many residents.
Hypersonic Strike on Lviv Infrastructure
Simultaneously, in the west of the country, the city of Lviv was struck by a high-speed ballistic missile. Mayor Andriy Sadoviy confirmed the weapon hit a critical infrastructure target. The Western Command of Ukraine's Air Force reported the missile was travelling at approximately 13,000 kilometres per hour (over 8,000 mph), with investigations ongoing to confirm if it was a Russian hypersonic Oreshnik missile.
The attack followed explicit warnings from both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the US embassy in Kyiv about an imminent large-scale Russian offensive. In a late-night address, Zelensky urged citizens to take shelter, stating Russia was planning a "new, massive" strike.
Zelensky Accuses Russia of 'Weaponising Winter'
President Zelensky has accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of deliberately using winter conditions as a weapon of war. "There is absolutely no military rationale in such strikes on the energy sector and infrastructure that leave people without electricity and heating in wintertime," Zelensky wrote on social media platform X.
His words were underscored by the aftermath of separate drone strikes on the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, which knocked out power to more than 600,000 households amid a severe cold snap with sub-zero temperatures.
The latest violence comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions. The Kremlin has forcefully rejected any future deployment of European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, branding such plans "dangerous" and vowing to treat them as legitimate military targets. Meanwhile, reports from French media suggest Vladimir Putin's peace envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, was spotted in Paris this week, although the Élysée Palace denies he was received there.
In a show of continued alignment, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged in a letter to "unconditionally and permanently" support President Putin's policies, according to state media KCNA. As the war approaches its fourth year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz argued that Europe must continue to "raise the price" of the conflict to force Moscow towards a ceasefire.
