Russia Launches Ukraine's Largest Air Strike, President Zelensky: US Silence Enlivens Putin

JAKARTA - The Russian military launched 367 drones and missiles into cities in Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, in the biggest airstrikes in the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, officials said.

The death toll includes three children in the northern region of Zhytomyr, local officials said.

It was the biggest attack in the war in terms of fired weapons, although other attacks have killed more people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the United States, which has taken a softer public stance against Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, since President Donald Trump took office, to speak up.

"The silence of America, the silence of other countries in the world is only encouraging Putin," he wrote on Telegram.

"Any Russian terrorist attack like that is sufficient reason for new sanctions against Russia," President Zelensky added.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said 12 people had been killed and 60 others injured. Previously, the death toll given separately by regional authorities and rescue teams said the death toll reached 13 people.

Сьогодні рятувальники працювали у більш ніж 30 українських містах і селах після масованого російського удару. Всюди, де потрібно, роботи тривають – наші служби на місцях, надають допомогу й підтримують людей. Дякую вам.

Майже 300 ударних безпілотників випустили росіяни за цю… pic.twitter.com/F4WZFQCMWk

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 25, 2025

"You can't do this, you can't do it," he said.

Let's talk about it. Let's talk about 300. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it.

"This is a violent joint attack aimed at civilians. The enemy once again shows that the goal is fear and death," he wrote on Telegram.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched 298 drones and 69 missiles in last night's attack, although it was said to have succeeded in dropping 266 drones and 45 missiles.

The damage extends to a number of regional centers, including Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv in the south and Ternopil in the west.

In Kyiv, Tymur Tkachenko, head of city military administration, said 11 people were injured in a drone strike. No deaths were reported in the capital, although four people were killed in the area around the city, according to officials.

This is the second major air strike in two days. On Friday night, Russia launched dozens of unmanned aircraft and ballistic missiles into Kyiv in waves that continued throughout the night.

In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Sunday morning that a drone hit three city districts and injured three people. The explosion shattered windows in a high-rise apartment block.

A drone strike killed a 77-year-old man and injured five people in the southern city of Mykolaiv, the regional governor said. He published images of residential apartment blocks with large holes due to explosions and debris strewn across the ground.

In the western region of Khmelnytskyi, hundreds of kilometers away from the front lines of combat, four people were killed and five others injured, according to the governor.

"Without pressure, nothing will change and Russia and its allies will only build power for such killings in Western countries," Ukraine's chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram.

"Moscow will go to war as long as it still has the ability to produce weapons."

The attack comes as Ukraine and Russia prepare to make a third and final day of prisoner swap where both sides will exchange a total of 1,000 people each.

Separately, US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said on Sunday the attack was a "clear violation" of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocol and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Ukraine and its European allies have been trying to push Moscow to sign a 30-day ceasefire as the first step to negotiate a three-year war end.

Their efforts suffered a blow earlier this week when President Trump refused to impose further sanctions on Moscow for not agreeing to the immediate battle break, as Kyiv wanted.