Russia Launches Record 818-Missile Strike on Ukraine, Hits Cabinet of Ministers

In the early hours of September 7, Russia launched the most massive aerial assault on Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion. A total of 818 aerial targets were recorded, including 805 Shahed drones and 13 missiles of various types. Thanks to Ukraine’s coordinated air defense efforts, 751 of those threats were intercepted.

Still, 9 missiles and 56 drones made direct impacts across 37 locations in multiple cities, including the capital Kyiv, as well as Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Kremenchuk, and Odesa.

At the time of publication, dozens of injuries had been reported nationwide. In Kyiv, one of the drone strikes hit a residential building, killing a woman and her infant child. Rescue teams are still working to free another child believed to be trapped under the rubble. Dozens of rescue units and heavy machinery have been deployed at the strike sites, and in Kyiv, helicopters are battling fires from the air.

In a grave escalation, a Russian missile directly hit Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers building—marking the first such strike on this government facility since the invasion began. The upper floors sustained significant damage, a large fire broke out, and multiple offices were destroyed. The building houses the offices of key cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister’s office.

Until now, Russia had largely avoided deliberate attacks on Kyiv’s government quarter. The only prior incident was an indirect hit to the National Bank of Ukraine, caused by falling debris.

Russian Assault Grows in Scope

In early summer 2025, UNITED24 Media newsroom reported that Russia had launched nearly 1,000 drones and missiles over a span of three days. Just three months later, Moscow has managed to deploy 818 aerial threats in a single night.

The pace and scale of these strikes are accelerating. Throughout the summer, we saw the intensity of attacks rise—from 300 simultaneous aerial assaults to over 500. For weeks, the standing record was 700. Now, Russia appears to be approaching a new threshold: 1,000 drones and missiles launched simultaneously—a milestone experts had previously warned about.

In response to the escalating threat, experts stress that Ukraine must act on two fronts:

1. Scale air defense systems across all regions, matching the intensity and geography of Russian attacks.

2. Acquire long-range weapons capable of striking deep behind enemy lines—targeting drone and missile assembly sites, component factories, and launch infrastructure, often located hundreds of kilometers from the front line.
   

In August 2025, it was confirmed that Russia had begun constructing Shahed drone infrastructure in Mariupol (Donetsk region). Ukrainian forces successfully struck that site. However, Ukraine needs greater quantities of long-range weapons—both European and American-made—to neutralize the expanding network of military infrastructure and logistics Moscow continues to build.