Russia Strikes Ukraine as Explosions Rock Capital of Kyiv

Explosions boomed and thick gray smoke rose over the Ukrainian capital early on Thursday as Russia hammered the city with deadly waves of ballistic missiles and drones.

Firefighters raced to extinguish blazes in several districts of the capital, Kyiv. Several apartment buildings were partially destroyed and an unknown number of people were trapped in the rubble, according to the local authorities. Emergency workers rushed to respond even as more explosions were heard.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko of Kyiv said that at least 10 people had been killed and 34 others wounded in the assault, which began Wednesday night and was still loudly underway as dawn broke on Thursday morning. Birds could be heard chirping in between booms.

Russian attack drones came first. The rat-tat-tat of air defenses firing was followed by one large explosion around 11 p.m. on Wednesday night, then more. A large fire was soon seen burning in the city center, with a smaller blaze just beyond it.

Mr. Klitschko implored people to stay in shelters as the night wore on and ballistic missiles entered Ukraine’s airspace. Another series of powerful explosions started to rock the city just before 2 a.m. Thursday, setting off car alarms that soon mingled with sirens.

Images of burning apartment buildings and cars ablaze started to emerge on Ukrainian Telegram channels. A market, a hotel and an ambulance station also sustained damage, according to local officials, who warned that more missiles were on their way.

Many residents of the capital had decided to spend the night in subway stations with sleeping bags and pets, hunkering down amid warnings that a large-scale attack was imminent.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had urged people before the attack began to heed air-raid alarms and be “especially careful,” saying on Wednesday evening that intelligence had indicated that Russia was preparing another “massive strike.”

Many in Kyiv had been bracing for a large-scale assault. Ukraine has been heaping pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia by launching long-range drone attacks on Moscow, disrupting Russian fuel supplies and pounding Crimea — the peninsula Russia illegally annexed in 2014 — with drones and missiles.

Ukraine says the goal is to take the war to Russia and to get Mr. Putin to agree to end the conflict. But Mr. Putin, even as his ability to isolate Russian society from the war’s effect has diminished, has expressed defiance and dug in.

“Putin wants to keep fighting,” Mr. Zelensky said Wednesday in Ireland, where he was attending a European Council event, before rushing home. “That is why he must face conditions that make it impossible for him to keep this war going.”

The air-raid sirens wailed in Kyiv just a few hours later, the start of a long and loud night for the city’s residents.