The Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, faced a massive overnight barrage from Russian forces, leaving over 20 sites damaged across the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who cut short a visit to Ireland and returned to Ukraine, said the main strike was directed at Kyiv and that air defense supplies for Ukraine are an absolute and critical priority.
The attack has resulted in fires continuing to burn after sunrise, and emergency crews are searching through the rubble of a nine-story building on the left bank of the Dnipro River.
Residents are trapped inside damaged residential buildings, and city officials have reported heavy damage across Kyiv, including residential buildings torn apart and thick smoke hanging over parts of the city.
More than 20 sites were damaged, including residential buildings, diplomatic accommodation, and the National Institute of Biochemistry, where a state-of-the-art laboratory and offices were gutted.
Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that its "massive attack" used long-range, high-precision weapons and drones to strike military and energy facilities, as well as airports in Kyiv and other locations.
Russia claimed the attack was retaliation for Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia; however, Ukraine said it hit an oil refinery overnight in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region, where one person was killed in a strike on an industrial facility.
Poland, a NATO and European Union member that borders Ukraine, briefly scrambled fighter jets as a preventive measure, and Finland also briefly issued a temporary aviation restriction zone in the eastern Gulf of Finland.
The international community has condemned the attack, with Romania's Foreign Minister stating that Russian drones were detected near the border with Romania and prompting NATO air-policing aircraft to respond.
The European Union's foreign policy chief has proposed new sanctions on entities supporting Russia's military-industrial complex in response to the strikes, stating that the more Moscow attacks civilians, the more sanctions must be imposed.
