KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces launched barrages of drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities on Thursday, after each side blamed the other for explosions at the Kremlin that raised fears of an escalation in the war.
A dozen or so loud explosions and the sound of antiaircraft gunfire rattled the capital, Kyiv, after nightfall on Thursday, the second consecutive night the capital was targeted after Russia accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack in central Moscow, an accusation Ukraine has strongly denied.
At least two drones were spotted over Kyiv, and video shared online showed one being shot down, prompting cheers from watchers below in the Maidan, Kyiv’s central square. Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed in a statement that a drone had been shot down.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said falling debris caused a small fire near a railroad station, but it had been contained. There was no immediate information about possible casualties.
While Kyiv has come under frequent and often unrelenting bombardment since Russia launched its full-scale invasion more than a year ago, rarely has Russia launched drones at the capital night after night. The air raid alarm on Thursday evening was not nationwide, as is often the case, but focused only on Kyiv.
Explosions also shook Kyiv early Thursday and a regional official said air defenses shot down Russian drones and ballistic missiles. The Ukrainian military’s southern command in Odesa said drones were also shot down there and provided images that suggested that some had the handwritten messages “For Moscow” and “For the Kremlin” on them.
There were no reports of casualties in those incidents. But in the southern region of Kherson, officials raised the death toll from Russian shelling on Wednesday to 23 people, making it one of the deadliest barrages in Ukraine this year.
The United States and Ukraine both said they feared that Russia would seek to intensify attacks after the explosions over the Kremlin on Wednesday, which were apparently caused by drones.
Russia blamed Ukraine for the episode, calling it an assassination attempt on President Vladimir V. Putin, and said it reserved the right to retaliate. Ukraine, which typically maintains deliberate ambiguity over responsibility for attacks inside Russia, categorically denied involvement and accused Moscow of manufacturing the incident as a pretext for further aggression and to stir up public support.
It remained unclear who was responsible for the explosions, which occurred 15 minutes apart. The United States Embassy in Kyiv issued a warning late Wednesday that there was a heightened risk of Russian missile attacks, including in the Ukrainian capital and surrounding area, citing “the recent uptick in strikes across Ukraine and inflammatory rhetoric from Moscow.”
Early on Thursday in Kyiv, three loud booms rattled windows about 2:30 a.m. local time and the police cordoned off what appeared to be debris from a missile or drone shot out of the sky over a central neighborhood. Some nearby windows were shattered, and the smell of smoke hung in the air.
Russian attacked Odesa with at least 15 drones, Ukraine’s southern military command said. The Ukrainians shot down 12, but three got through the air defense network and crashed into dorms for an educational institution. There were no reports of casualties, the Ukrainian military said.
In towns and cities closer to the sprawling front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, there were also reports of widespread bombardments. The damage was being assessed early Thursday morning.
