Russian combined attack hits Kyiv and Lviv Oblasts, kills at least 5 and injures 25 civilians in capital

Ukrainian authorities reported a combined Russian attack on Ukraine, including in the Kyiv and Lviv Oblasts on the night of January 8-9, 2026. As a result of the Russian attack on Kyiv, several people were injured, and fires broke out in a residential building and on the premises of a shopping center.

Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, reported that as of 01:13 a.m., four victims of the enemy attack on the capital are already known.

According to Tkachenko, a fire has broken out in a residential building in the Darnytskyi District of Ukraine’s capital, affecting the 9th and 10th floors. A fire was also recorded on the territory of a shopping center in the Desnianskyi District. In the Dniprovskyi District, an uninhabited private house was damaged as a result of the attack, he added.

At 02:00 a.m. local time, ZMINA correspondent reported an explosion sound in Ukraine’s capital. Minutes earlier, local authorities issued a ballistic threat warning. 

As of 02:01 a.m., Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that one person has been killed. Four others were injured, two of whom have been hospitalized.

As of 02:10 a.m., Klitschko reported about two dead in Kyiv. Five people have been injured. Medics provided assistance to three of them on the spot. Two were hospitalized.

Ukrinform news agency, citing Oleksandr Khorunzhiy, the press officer of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, reported that as of 1:35 p.m., as a result of the Russian attack on Kyiv, five people were killed and 25 were injured.

“In total, as a result of these massive attacks on capital, five people were killed, and 25 people were injured. The greatest destruction and most strikes were on the left bank — specifically the Desnyanskyi, Darnytskyi, and Dniprovskyi districts,” he said.

According to the Kyiv Mayor, a fire broke out in the Dniprovskyi District, where a UAV struck a 12-story residential building. The building has sustained partial destruction.

In the Pecherskyi District, where a UAV hit a 24-story non-residential building, destruction occurred at the level of the 23rd and 24th floors, followed by a fire.

Among those killed by the Russians is 56-year-old medic, Serhiy Smoliak. His brigade had arrived at the site of a residential building strike in the Darnytskyi District when the enemy launched a repeat strike, the Minister of Health, Viktor Lyashko, and the Kakhovka City Territorial Hromada reported.

Serhiy Smoliak

For over a quarter of a century, he worked as a senior ambulance paramedic in Kakhovka, Kherson region. The city is currently under Russian occupation. Later, he moved to Kyiv, where he continued his medical career, working at the Center for Emergency Medical Care and Disaster Medicine.

“In Kyiv, Serhiy continued to do what he did best—helping people without thinking about the danger to himself. He was not only a dedicated medical professional but also a loving husband, father, and grandfather,” noted the Kakhovka City Territorial Hromada.

Moreover, a Russian drone damaged the Qatari Embassy building in Kyiv.

“In addition to our civilian infrastructure and energy facilities, the building of the Embassy of Qatar was damaged last night by a Russian drone – Qatar, a state that does so much to mediate with Russia in order to secure the release of prisoners of war and civilians held in Russian prisons,” President of Ukraine Volodomyr Zelenskyy commented on X. 

In addition, there are reports that Russians struck a critical infrastructure facility in the Lviv Oblast. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi stated that it is currently unknown whether Russia attacked the Lviv region with the “Oreshnik” missile.

“Clarification regarding the shelling. Whether it was the ‘Oreshnik’, it is currently unknown. Information will be provided by the military. There is a hit on a critical infrastructure facility. All relevant services are working on-site, and the liquidation of the fire is ongoing.”

Sadovyi added that there is currently no information regarding casualties. Civilian facilities and residential buildings in the city were not damaged.

Colonel Yuriy Ihnat, the Head of the Communications Department of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stated in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda news outlet that Russia may have struck the Lviv region from the “Kapustin Yar” test range in the Astrakhan Oblast, where, according to preliminary information, the “Oreshnik” missile system is based.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed that the use of the Oreshnik missile to strike Ukraine was a response to a Russian fake about an alleged drone attack on Russian ruler Vladimir Putin’s residence, which the occupiers reported in late December.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that a clear response from the world is needed, particularly from the United States, after Russia’s large-scale attack, during which Moscow used a medium-range ballistic missile known as Oreshnik.

“A clear reaction from the world is needed. Above all, from the United States, whose signals Russia truly pays attention to. Russia must receive signals that it is its obligation to focus on diplomacy, and must feel consequences every time it again focuses on killings and the destruction of infrastructure.”

The president added that the latest strike serves as a stark reminder to all of Ukraine’s partners that supporting air defense remains a constant priority.

“Not a single day can be lost in deliveries, in production, or in agreements. Today, we will inform our partners at all levels about what has happened and what response measures we need,” Zelensky stated.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas stated that Russia’s use of the “Oreshnik” intermediate-range ballistic missile is an escalation against Ukraine and is intended to warn Europe and the United States.

Kallas emphasized that repetitive Russian attacks only demonstrate Moscow’s unwillingness to end the war.

“Putin doesn’t want peace. Russia’s reply to diplomacy is more missiles and destruction. This deadly pattern of recurring major Russian strikes will repeat itself until we help Ukraine break it. Russia’s reported use of an Oreshnik missile is a clear escalation against Ukraine and is meant as a warning to Europe and to the US,” she wrote on X.

The head of European diplomacy urged EU countries to “dip into their air defense stockpiles” and supply them to Ukraine immediately. Furthermore, Kallas proposed the introduction of tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham stated on X that Donald Trump has given the green light to a bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Russia.

“After a very productive meeting today with President Trump on a variety of issues, he greenlit the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that I have been working on for months with Senator Blumenthal and many others,” Graham wrote.

He reported that the decision was timely, arguing that “Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent.”

He noted that the bill would allow Trump to punish countries that buy cheap Russian oil, which he said is fueling Putin’s war machine.

“This bill would give President Trump tremendous leverage against countries like China, India, and Brazil to incentivize them to stop buying the cheap Russian oil that provides the financing for Putin’s bloodbath against Ukraine. I look forward to a strong bipartisan vote, hopefully as early as next week,” he stated.

Earlier, the new chief of the UK foreign intelligence service MI6, Blaise Metreweli,  accused Russian ruler Vladimir Putin of deliberately prolonging negotiations to put an end to the war in Ukraine, in an assessment that complicates Donald Trump’s efforts to broker a deal by year-end, Bloomberg news agency reported.

Metreweli’s words suggest there has been little alteration in Western security officials’ assessment that Putin doesn’t intend to stop fighting in Ukraine anytime soon, despite talks to end the war that have taken place between the Kremlin and American negotiators in recent weeks.