Russia launches over 800 drones at Ukraine in record attack, hits government building in Kyiv for the first time

A record Russian drone and missile barrage on cities across Ukraine overnight Sept. 7 killed at least five people and wounded 44, according to the latest data from government officials.

In Kyiv, a woman and her three-month-old son were killed, and 20 others were injured, according to reports from the city’s military administration chief Tymur Tkachenko. By early Sept. 8, the Tkachenko said the death toll in the capital had risen to three.

Residential buildings and civilian infrastructure were hit in several regions, leaving some areas without power. Strikes also damaged the Cabinet of Ministers building in central Kyiv — the first time Ukraine’s main government building had been hit in an attack since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Russia deployed 810 Shahed and other types of drones along with nine Iskander-K cruise missiles and four Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, Ukraine’s Air Force said Sunday, making it the largest attack launched by Moscow to date. Of those, 747 drones were shot down or jammed by electronic warfare, and four Iskander-K missiles were intercepted, the Air Force reported.

But nine missiles and 54 drones struck 33 locations, with debris causing additional destruction in eight more cases. The open source intelligence (OSINT) project Oko Hora reported that the barrage involved the largest number of drones used by Russia in a single night. The previous record was 728 in an attack on July 9.

The main target was Kyiv, where four apartment buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged, most notably in the capital’s Sviatoshynskyi District, according to a report by Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.

Elsewhere, three people were injured in Odesa, a total of four were injured in Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih, while strikes hit the Poltava Region without casualties. President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that there were also fatalities in Safonivka in the Sumy Region, as well as the Chernihiv Region.

In Kyiv, the Cabinet of Ministers building was damaged, and a fire broke out on its upper floors.

Responding to the attack, Zelensky reminded Washington of U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose new sanctions if Russia refused peace talks:

“Such killings now, when real diplomacy could have already started, are a deliberate crime and an attempt to prolong the war. It has been repeatedly stated in Washington that sanctions will follow refusal to talk. We must implement everything agreed upon in Paris. We also count on the implementation of all agreements to strengthen our air defenses. Each additional system saves civilians from these vile strikes. The world can force the Kremlin’s criminals to stop killing — it only takes political will. Thank you to everyone who is helping.”