U.S. and European Security Policy

Russian forces on Saturday mounted one of the largest aerial assaults of 2026, launching roughly 659 drones and scores of cruise and ballistic missiles in an hours-long barrage across multiple Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian authorities now say at least 18 people were killed — including a 12-year-old boy — with the dead concentrated in Odesa (9), Dnipro (5) and Kyiv (4); dozens were wounded and emergency workers were among the injured. A high-rise residential block in Kyiv's Podil district collapsed after a strike, windows and facades were shattered across neighborhoods, and Mykolaiv and Kherson lost power after hits to energy infrastructure. Ukraine's Air Force reported shooting down 636 drones and 31 missiles; Russian officials framed the strikes as retaliation for Ukrainian long-range attacks on refineries and military-related sites inside Russia.