AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Russian Strikes Kill at Least 18 in Biggest Barrage on Ukrainian Cities in MonthsMoscow is again ramping up missile and drone attacks on civilian targets, dispelling any notion that a temporary cease-fire for Orthodox Easter might become more lasting.Listen · 3:40 min VideoRussia Launches Largest Barrage on Ukrainian Cities in MonthsAt least 15 people died after Russia flew more than 700 drones and missiles across Ukrainian cities, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.CreditCredit...Valentyn Ogirenko/ReutersBy Kim Barker and Oleksandra MykolyshynReporting from Kyiv, UkraineApril 16, 2026Updated 10:00 a.m. ETRussia launched a vast missile and drone attack across Ukraine overnight and early Thursday morning, killing at least 18 people and destroying any thought that the temporary Easter truce announced by President Vladimir V. Putin meant anything more permanent.The strikes sent plumes of smoke above the capital, Kyiv, in the early morning and also targeted the port city of Odesa and the central-eastern city of Dnipro. Bone-rattling explosions of air-defense interceptors and ballistic missiles hitting their targets jarred residents out of bed.Russia sent 659 drones and 44 missiles, including 19 ballistic ones, into Ukrainian cities from 7 a.m. on Wednesday to 7 a.m. on Thursday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. It was the largest such barrage in months and one of the largest of the war.In Kyiv, four people were killed, including a 12-year-old boy, and 48 other people were injured, according to the mayor, Vitali Klitschko. He added on social media at 5 a.m. Kyiv time that Russian strikes had also injured four medics who had been responding to an earlier attack at an office building.A drone punched a hole in the side of a multistory apartment building shortly after Olena Kapustian, 41, started getting her 11-year-old son ready for school on Thursday. She said in an interview that she had been listening as air defenses tried to intercept the drone, then watched it pass the corridor window of her 16th-floor apartment and then come straight at her building.“It was like a comet,” she said.The explosion tore through the upper floors, blowing out windows, flinging open cabinets and doors and leaving a gaping hole in the facade. It was the second time the building had been hit. The last strike was in March 2025, causing a fire. Ms. Kapustian said she no longer tried to make sense of the war.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT