Russia launched a massive wave of drones and ballistic missiles across wide areas of Ukraine early Friday. The attack killed at least three people and injured dozens. It came days after Kyiv carried out a daring raid on Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet.

Kyiv residents heard familiar sounds during the night. Drones buzzed overhead. Air raid sirens wailed. Large explosions shook the capital. Some blasts came from air defences downing missiles. Others came from projectiles hitting targets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia used more than 400 drones and 40 missiles in the attack. He called it among the largest attack in the Ukraine war. He said the attack killed three people, injured 49, and hit “almost all” of Ukraine. He listed nine regions, from Lviv in the west to Sumy in the northeast.

Russia has struck Ukraine almost daily through three years of full-scale war. Ukrainians had braced for retaliation after Kyiv struck more than a third of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers on Sunday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Putin said Moscow would have to respond to Kyiv’s assault.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its strikes answered Kyiv’s “terrorist acts.” It was unclear whether this attack fulfilled Russia’s threat or if Putin would escalate further. After Kyiv’s operation embarrassed Moscow, pro-Kremlin pundits called for severe, even nuclear — retaliation.

After daylight broke Friday, people saw the damage to apartment buildings caused by the strikes.

Ukraine’s general staff said it launched overnight strikes on two Russian airfields which sheltered majority of aircraft that had not been damaged in Kyiv’s “Spiderweb” operation.

Ukraine stressed that the operation had targeted planes that Russia uses to launch missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and kill civilians. After Russia’s large-scale attack, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Moscow had “responded” to its destroyed aircraft by again “attacking civilians in Ukraine.”

In Kyiv, flames rose from apartment buildings. Firefighters worked at the scene. Residents picked through the wreckage of damaged apartments. Vehicles parked on the streets below were covered with broken glass and slabs of masonry torn from the buildings.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 406 of 452 drones and missiles launched by Russia. It said Russia used 407 drones, six ballistic missiles, 38 cruise missiles, and an anti-radar missile.

Ukraine’s air force said it downed 406 projectiles, including 32 cruise missiles and four ballistic missiles. The other two ballistic missiles did not reach their targets, it added.

Although Zelensky said three people were killed in the attacks, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people had been killed in the capital. It was not immediately clear what caused the discrepancy.

Strikes also hit Chernihiv, near the border with Belarus. Local officials said 14 explosions from drones and ballistic missiles, including cruise missiles and Iskander-M missiles, rocked the city. Five people were injured in Lutsk. CNN footage showed at least four missiles slamming into the city, causing fiery explosions.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it intercepted and destroyed 174 Ukrainian drones from Thursday evening to early Friday. It also said it destroyed three Ukrainian Neptune-MD guided missiles over the Black Sea.

All week, Ukrainians had braced for Russia’s retaliation after Kyiv’s drone attack struck 34% of Moscow’s nuclear-capable bombers at airfields as far away as Siberia.

On Tuesday, Ukraine also launched an attack on the Kerch Bridge. The bridge connects Russia to annexed Crimea. Ukraine used 1,100 kilograms of underwater explosives.

An apartment in a residential multi-story building in Kyiv was left damaged after the Russian drone strike on Friday.

After Putin’s call with Trump, Trump said Putin had told him that Moscow would have to respond to Ukraine’s assaults. Trump’s comments gave no indication that he had urged Putin to hold back, to the dismay of many in Ukraine.

Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko told CNN earlier this week, “When Putin mentioned he is going to avenge or deliver a new strike against Ukraine, we know what it means. It’s about civilians. And President Trump didn’t say, ‘Vladimir, stop.’”

Although Trump supported recent peace talks in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia, on Thursday he signalled a more hands-off approach. He compared the war to a fight between children.

“Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,” Trump said in the Oval Office, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looked on silently. “They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don’t want to be pulled. Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.”